Melbourne charities receive thousands in Feed Appeal grants

Melbourne charities will continue to support those most in need after receiving thousands in funding through the Feed Appeal.

We Care Community Services in Dandenong North.

Food charities across Melbourne will be able to help people most in need thanks to vital funding from The Feed Appeal.

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

In 2021, $1.96 million was raised to help provide more than 4 million meals to Australians in need.

We Care Community Services, based in Dandenong North, has been given $20,718 to continue its program which has supported the local community for more than 20 years.

General manager Alex Attard said his organisation’s services had significantly increased since the start of the pandemic.

The money will go towards a new cool room to allow the storage of fresh food and meat.

“As the pandemic struck and more people experienced job losses and insecurity, we saw substantial growth in demand for our services,” he said.

“We saw that demand coming from our traditional demographic base, but also from a new group of people including middle-class families that were struggling, business owners, wage earners, international students and tourists who had been trapped in Australia but didn’t qualify for JobKeeper or other Commonwealth and State Government support.

“We had to increase our throughput of food and open a new site in the Lynbrook area.”

Mr Attard said the grant would increase capacity to offer fresh and frozen produce to clients.

“It means we will have the ability to obtain and store more fresh and frozen produce while reducing the risk of product spoilage and food waste,” he said.

“This, in turn, means that we can reach more people with healthier and better-quality produce – giving families more choice and enabling us to impact the community on a much larger scale.”

Friends of Refugees.

Meanwhile, the Melbourne Anglican Benevolent Society’s Pantry 5000 in Chelsea will be able to buy a new Coolbox refrigeration unit and generator thanks to a grant of $7898.

Organisation representative Ken Gooding said the project collects and distributes over two tonnes off food in Melbourne’s southeast each week.

“An important part of this is milk, dairy and other cold items, and frozen meals,” he said.

“Currently these items are collected in an insulated cool box. The installation of an active refrigeration unit on the trailer used to collect the food will ensure that the safety and integrity of the food is maintained.

“The majority of people being supported by Pantry 5000 are families with young children and the inclusion of milk and other dairy items is essential to providing a balanced and nutritious selection of foods for these families.”

Reservoir Neighbourhood House (RNH) has received a $5000 of its own to continue its own support in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

“RNH aims to cultivate a sense of belonging for the local community, especially people experiencing vulnerability,” representative Angie Davidson said.

“This grant is amazing for us. We have a small food relief budget which isn‘t enough to meet demand so Feed Appeal giving us support through a grant for food items helps us to keep supporting our community, especially since Covid lockdowns and job losses have hit our community hard.”

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.

To donate, visit feedappeal.org.au.