FareShare meals are distributed to hundreds of frontline charities supporting people experiencing hardship.
An inspiring volunteer-run hub for food relief is helping people facing hardship across Naarm/Melbourne’s outer east put food on the table. The dedicated team of around 80 volunteers at Wantirna’s Outer East Foodshare (OEF) collect surplus food from local supermarkets, as well as receiving deliveries of ready-to-eat FareShare meals and
From the moment people seeking food relief come through the colourfully painted door at Thornbury Church of Christ they are treated with kindness and respect. When the SecondBite team visited the food relief program on a Wednesday, the comforting smell of baked goods wafted to the door as the friendly faces of volunteers greeted us. The church chapel was set up as a Community Hub with round tables and chairs, a tea and coffee station and a snack table for
Over the 2025 festive season, the Melbourne production of A Christmas Carol partnered with FareShare to help provide meals for people struggling to put food on the table. Across the season, audiences attending performances at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre were invited to donate to support FareShare’s work, helping raise $182,747 – which will provide 52,213 nutritious meals for people facing hardship. The partnership reflected the
The Melbourne production of A Christmas Carol has joined forces with FareShare to help provide meals with heart for people going without this Christmas.
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.
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.
