Grovedale food bank delays closure until March 2026
A vital emergency relief centre serving Geelong's most vulnerable residents faces an uncertain future despite winning temporary salvation from September closure plans.
Volunteers at the Uniting Grovedale emergency relief (ER) are “relieved” to have secured a six-month reprieve from closure, but remain anxious about the centre’s long-term future.
Following concern from the community, Uniting Victoria and Tasmania has delayed plans to shut the Torquay Rd food bank, moving the date from September 30 to Mach 5 2026, when it is expected to merge with another site in Norlane.
Helen Gaylard, who has been a volunteer at the Grovedale site for eight years, said the volunteers were overwhelmingly grateful for the delay, but remained anxious about what March would bring.
“We’re thrilled because it means we can run our Christmas Day programs, give out hampers and toys for kids, and start our education program next month,” she said.
“But to us as volunteers, we seem to be the only ones fighting to keep this place open.”
“If we close Grovedale in March, we can’t move everything over to Norlane, and they don’t seem to have a plan.”
Ms Gaylard said sharing news of the closure had been distressing for both the volunteers and their clients, and that distress had not been alleviated by the delay.
“These vulnerable clients have been coming to us for years in some cases,” she said.
“We don’t know where to send them (after March 5).”
Uniting Victoria and Tasmania acting general manager North and West Victoria Kim Fitzgerald said the decision to keep the site open until March had come after local volunteers shared concerns that the original time frame to close Grovedale was too tight, especially impacting vulnerable people using the service over the Christmas period.
She said under a recent Federal Government grants round, Uniting had lost a substantial level of funding for its emergency relief program across Victoria, so the plan was still to consolidate the Barwon operations on one site in Norlane to make best use of the funding and donations received.
Ms Fitzgerald said extending operations would allow time to establish a sustainable site for delivering emergency relief in the Geelong area.
“We are working to keep 14 emergency relief sites across Victoria and Tasmania operating, and we need to adjust and rethink how we deliver this vital service in the future,” she said.
Nearly 80 per cent of Uniting’s revenue in Victoria and Tasmania came from state and federal government contributions last year, according to the organisation’s 2024 annual report.
Ms Gaylard said volunteers and clients still believed merging with the “small” Norlane site would be “unsuitable” as they were in completely different locations.
She said the Grovedale ER site served clients from Geelong all the way along the Surf Coast to Apollo Bay, many of whom could not get to Norlane.
“It just seems like poor management,” she said.
Local MP Libby Coker said she had visited the centre and understood the importance of its work.
“I am speaking to the provider and urging them to keep the doors of the Grovedale centre open,” she said.
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Originally published as Grovedale food bank delays closure until March 2026
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