Feed Appeal gives Shepparton charities much-needed boost

Thousands of people in Shepparton will be helped after charities received vital funding for those most in need.

Shepparton Family and Financial Services received a grant of over $6000.

Thousands of vulnerable people in Shepparton will have food on their tables after charities received much-needed funding from The Feed Appeal.

The appeal was co-founded by FareShare and News Corp Australia in 2009.

Shepparton Family and Financial Services has received $6402 to buy kitchen items, an under bench fridge and provide training.

It means they can help an additional 3000 people a year.

The money will go towards helping organisations cook up cultural sensitive foods that can be bulk made and frozen.

Tracie Driscoll from Shepparton Family and Financial Services said the main purpose of the project was to ensure food security in the community.

“The new fridge will have a working platform on top where we can bag the vegetables into groups for distribution to our clients,” she said.

“We will be able to make up salad packs, stir fry packs, soup vegetable packs and summer and winter vegetable packs and store overnight in this fridge.

“As a lot of the vegetables, we get donated come from cold storage the fridge will support a longer usable time for distribution and will also help us to cut down on spoilage of our donated vegetables.”

Shepparton Foodshare played a big role during the town’s Covid outbreak.

Shepparton Foodshare, which played a critical response during the town’s Covid outbreak, has been given a $5000 grant.

The organisation provided support across seven different local government areas.

Chair Jeremy Rensford said he was thankful to have more support.

“Food staples grant will greatly assist Shepparton Foodshare with access to food items that are in demand by agencies that collect our food for the people they support, yet are in short supply,” he said.

“These staple items are essential to build a hearty and nutritious meal around. Our model is such that food is provided to people in need for free, as they simply cannot pay for it.

“This, along with no ongoing funding, means Foodshare is unable to regularly pay for food.

“This grant will support Foodshare during this most challenging time as a result of the coronavirus pandemic while a more sustainable supply of food staples is established.”

Australian olive oil and vinegar producer Squeaky Gate supports the Feed Appeal Rural Grants program to ensure country areas doing it tough receive the food relief they need.

“Squeaky Gate is proud to be a supporting partner of the Feed Appeal Rural Grants Program for the second consecutive year,” Squeaky Gate marketing manager Kristen Moxey said.

“Sadly, food insecurity in our regional and rural communities continues to be an ongoing and significant issue.

“The combined effects of natural disasters, geography, and the pandemic has created a unique set of stressors in these areas that requires innovative thinking and resources to resolve.

“We have close ties to these communities and believe that now, more than ever, we need to support fellow Australians in need.”

Grants were awarded to Australia’s largest charity kitchen FareShare to cook millions of free nutritious cooked meals and deliver them free to hundreds of charities across Australia.

Twenty-nine community food relief charities in Victoria, NSW, Queensland, ACT, South Australia and Western Australia also received funding.

The grants will build the capacity of food relief charities to feed more people through the purchase of refrigerated vehicles, cool rooms, fridges, freezers, kitchen equipment and staple food items. Grant recipients include foodbanks, health services, neighbourhood houses and school breakfast and lunch programs.

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