FareShare meals are distributed to hundreds of frontline charities supporting people in crisis.
Volunteering in the FareShare kitchen is a meaningful and tangible way of making a difference in our community, but for one corporate volunteer it was personal. Aleisha’s experience of losing her job and being threatened with homelessness came flooding back on a corporate volunteering shift. The skilled project manager, pictured
Nutritious FareShare meals have been life-affirming for Amanda, a single woman on a disability pension “I cannot thank you enough for providing this service,” says Amanda, who lives in a social housing unit after developing a physical disability. “I hope with all my heart that you continue to do this
People experiencing homelessness on the Mornington Peninsula can now enjoy a FareShare meal together with a hot shower and laundry service on the foreshore. With caravan parks closing down, women fleeing domestic violence, pockets of inter-generational poverty and many other prescient issues, more and more people are becoming homeless in
FareShare has been supporting Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering place in Ringwood for more than a decade with rescued food and pastries. The community-controlled and managed foodbank exists for Indigenous community members, and non-Indigenous partners and carers living in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. Every Wednesday people in need of support drop in
Our meals are distributed to large and small charities who help people in desperate need secure nutritious food.
These agencies 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 like the Salvation Army and the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.
Some charities serve our meals directly, such as Vinnies’ Vans which hand out our savoury pastries and 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. Most of our meals in Victoria, and all of our meals in Queensland, are distributed by Foodbank.
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.
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. Its 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 healthy 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.
The St Vincent de Paul Society has five soup vans that travel the streets of Melbourne, Berwick and Moe. FareShare supplies around 100 litres of soup a week to Vinnie’s Matthew Talbot Soup Van, which operates out of Our Lady’s Parish Hall in Maidstone.
Servicing the areas of Maidstone, Footscray and Williamstown, the van visits regular addresses that include boarding houses, housing ministry flats, a women’s refuge, Half Moon Caravan Park, and a stop outside the Whitten oval.
Many of the people who visit the van are not homeless, but struggle in their lives due to alcohol or substance abuse or mental illness. The van’s volunteers provide them with welcome food and company, and perhaps more importantly, acceptance of some of society’s most marginalised people.
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 2017 Foodbank Hunger Report, more than 3.6 million Australians experience food insecurity each year – meaning that they “didn’t have enough food for themselves or their family, and could not afford to buy more.” Sixty per cent of those people are going hungry at least once a month and for some, putting food on the table is a daily struggle.
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.