FareShare meals are distributed to hundreds of frontline charities supporting people in crisis.
FareShare has doubled production of cooked, nutritious meals in response to a spike in food insecurity brought on by COVID-19. We cooked 515,425 free meals in May – enough to feed a packed MCG five times over. “With millions of people losing work and income, many international students stranded without
International students impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in Brisbane are being nourished by 10,000 nutritious FareShare meals a week. The cooked meals aim to feed students doing it tough after losing their jobs with many unable to return home or access financial support. The first batch of meals (see photo
Overseas students have joined millions of Australians struggling to put food on the table. Most have lost their jobs, are ineligible for government support and unable to return home during COVID-19. Without free food they risk homelessness. FareShare has been supplying Empower with 3,000 free, nutritious meals a week to
Three weeks ago he was cooking brunch as head chef in a stylish Caulfield café. Now Arnel Quinoneza is pumping out as many free meals as possible in the FareShare kitchen. When COVID-19 slashed his shifts, Arnel joined the FareShare team under the state Government’s Working For Victoria program. “I’m
Our meals are distributed to large and small charities who help people in desperate need of nutritious food.
These charities include soup vans, homeless shelters, women’s refuges, support groups for single parents, RSLs and school breakfast programs in disadvantaged areas. They also include large groups such as The Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. FareShare meals are also provided to victims of natural disaster such as bushfires and floods, particularly in Queensland.
Some charities serve our meals directly, such as Vinnies’ Soup Vans which share our soup. Others pack them in food parcels for vulnerable people to take away.
Once cooked in our kitchen, we chill our meals and immediately deliver them for serving within a couple of days. We can only provide meals directly to a small number of charities and are unable to hand out meals to families and individuals. Most of our meals in Victoria, and all of our meals in Queensland, are distributed by Foodbank. Meals cooked in our Abbotsford kitchen are also being distributed to New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia thanks to collaboration with SecondBite.
We provide all our meals free of charge, and charities must guarantee to give them away for free to the men, women and children in need of support within their communities.
The Father Bob Maguire Foundation supports some of the most disadvantaged people in Melbourne including increasing numbers facing homelessness and isolation.
All Father Bob’s meals are served in parks and open spaces were diners can enjoy their food in a sociable environment. The charity’s food van service is more like a picnic than a soup van. Volunteers serve food from tables and greet diners who can choose from an array of options.
“We believe that if you feed people nutritious food, they will feel better physically, psychologically and emotionally” says Father Bob whose charity hands out food to 600 people per week.
Every night across Melbourne St Vincent de Paul Society’s Soup Vans serve FareShare soup to marginalised people struggling to access nutritious food.
As the Vinnies Soup Vans tour boarding and rooming houses, commission homes and public sites where rough sleepers gather, people hold out pots, bowls, mugs and paper cups for healthy, comforting soup.
Each week, FareShare cooks 110 litres of soup for Vinnies Footscray and has stepped up production to provide another 450 litres to the Fitzroy Soup Van.
For some isolated people, the Soup Van service may offer the only human interaction of the week.
For many people the words ‘hunger’ and ‘malnutrition’ conjure up images of starvation in Horn of Africa countries and developing nations in Asia. Most Australians are unaware that hunger and malnutrition also exist much closer to home – and are shocked by the extent of hunger in the lucky country.
According to the Foodbank Hunger Report 2019, around five million Australians experienced food insecurity over the previous 12 months – a shocking one in five people. Perhaps saddest of all, 22 per cent of them were children.
Worryingly, the trends aren’t good with a 22 per cent increase in the number of people seeking food relief.
Some of the most common reasons people skip meals or are unable to buy food include having limited income to meet the increasing cost of living, bill shock, housing affordability, and the expense of staple food items.
Australia’s economic statistics look impressive next to many other countries, but they fail to convey that too many in our society are struggling. Adults are skipping meals, children are going to school without breakfast or lunch, and many families cannot afford healthy food.
People going hungry come from all walks of life.
FareShare supports hundreds of charities feeding families and individuals in dire need. They include:
• Single parent or low-income families
• People experiencing homelessness or living in transient and crisis accommodation
• Mothers and children fleeing domestic violence
• Refugees and asylum seekers
• A family where a parent has lost work
• Indigenous Australians
• Children with no food at home who are going to school without breakfast or lunch
• People in poor health or battling addiction
• Isolated elderly people
• People with mental health issues or physical disabilities
• Students and young people living independently and struggling to make ends meet.
Being able to access nutritious food makes a huge difference to people who would otherwise go without. They are no longer distracted by hunger, can focus on their education or work, benefit from improved physical and mental health, and are more socially engaged.