FareShare meals are distributed to hundreds of frontline charities supporting people experiencing hardship.
How a FareShare meal made Emma feel valued on Christmas Day Emma got in touch with FareShare early this year to thank us for the chicken curry she ate on Christmas Day. Although Emma spent the day alone, she said that our meal helped make her feel ‘valued and appreciated’.
FareShare meals meet growing need for food relief in Melbourne’s northwest The queue of cars backed up to the street illustrates the current demand for emergency food relief at Helping Hands Airport West, one of the hundreds of charities that hand out FareShare meals to people doing it tough. When
Bringing the joy of Christmas to the bush Ros Bryan OAM JP shows us some of the volunteers who help out at the local Fish Creek RSL Christmas will be a little brighter for veterans sleeping rough and children with disabilities thanks to a very special FareShare delivery to South
Distance no barrier to urgent meal relief Six thousand FareShare meals are now being enjoyed by the First Nations community of Mornington Island in response to a request for urgent assistance. In a logistical feat supported by Woolworths and supply chain Primary Connect, FareShare was able to reach the remote
Our meals are distributed to large and small charities and community groups who help people in need of nutritious food.
These charities include soup vans, homeless shelters, women’s refuges, support groups for single parents, disaster relief centres, RSLs and neighbourhood houses. They also include large organisations such as The Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul, and regional hubs such as those in Bendigo and Shepparton. FareShare meals are provided to people affected by natural disaster such as bushfires and floods, and to vulnerable groups such as asylum seekers.
Some charities serve our meals directly, such as Vinnies’ Soup Vans which shares our hot pastries. Others pack them in food parcels for vulnerable people to take away or operate community pantries where clients can pick them up. Some charities offer microwaves where people can heat up a meal.
Once cooked in our kitchen, our meals are frozen and delivered within a couple of days. We only provide meals via our charity partners and are unable to hand out meals to families and individuals directly. Many of our meals in Victoria are distributed by SecondBite, while Foodbank is our main distribution partner in Queensland. Meals cooked in our Abbotsford kitchen are also being distributed to New South Wales thanks to collaboration with SecondBite.
We provide all our meals free of charge.
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.
According to the Foodbank Hunger Report 2022, more than 2 million households in Australia have run out of food in the last year, sometimes skipping meals or going whole days without eating. 1.3 million children lived in food insecure households during that time.
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.
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.
The fact is, 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
• First Nations communities
• People in poor health or battling addiction
• Isolated elderly people
• Communities experiencing natural disasters.
• Students and young people living independently and struggling to make ends meet.
If you are looking for food assistance, you can find a community food program near you by visiting the Ask Izzy website via the link below.