‘We’re preparing for another spike’: Demand for food almost doubles after fires, COVID-19
Albury Wodonga Regional Foodshare has experienced a huge increase in demand for food during the bushfires and COVID-19, and is preparing for another spike. But a bushfire grant is helping to ease some of the pressure.
Albury Wodonga
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It’s been a busy year for Albury-Wodonga Regional Foodshare.
The group has seen a 40 per cent spike in demand as it helps deal with the fallout from first the bushfires and then COVID-19.
And Albury Wodonga Regional Foodshare chief executive Peter Matthews said he’s only expecting it to increase as Job Keeper and Job Seeker payments are cut back.
“What happened was we had a huge spike in demand because of the bushfires and we supported the impacted communities, and just as people were finding some stability COVID-19 hit, so demand has gone up,” Mr Matthews said.
“A lot of the agencies closed during COVID-19 so we took over some of their responsibilities of providing food as we’re considered an essential service.
“We’re not sure what’s going to happen now the payments have been reduced, that will impact people, and when those payments are reduced further, if those people can’t find jobs it will impact people even more.
“We’re preparing for another spike in demand.”
Albury Wodonga Regional Foodshare has received a bushfire recovery grant from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, in partnership with News Corp, to build a new freezer to help them stock up on food and prepare for increased demand.
The organisation received $17,148 towards the new freezer, which Mr Matthews said would cover the majority of the $25,000 cost.
“Freezing food is a good way of storing it safely,” he said.
“Any baked products can be frozen like bread, as well as protein and frozen meals.
“Having a larger freezer capacity will expand our capacity to store food.”
Mr Matthews said the freezer would be approximately 4m wide and 6m deep.
“You will be able to roll pallets into it.”
You can donate to Albury-Wodonga Regional Foodshare here.