Driving through to support our community

YOU normally associate drive-throughs with picking up food, not dropping it off.

Yet that’s what’s been happening in the loading dock of the Ballarat Library for the last week after the space was turned into a collection point for food donations.

Each weekday between 10am and 12pm, a steady stream of cars roll into space, the driver pops their boot and staff collect the donations for a no-contact process.

The initiative is part of the City of Ballarat’s Be Kind campaign and the food donations are going to the region’s welfare and social service agencies.

Mayor Cr Ben Taylor said uptake of the initiative has been strong.

“We’ve had a really good response to the emergency food relief centre,” he said.

“Although it only opened on Friday, we’ve had a lot of cars through already and the amount of food people are dropping off has been sensational.”

“It is times like these our Ballarat community really rallies around and I think the Be Kind message has been heard and adopted right across our municipality. It’s great for our residents to be able to come and add a little bit extra to help people that are in need.”

Once the donations are collected the food is placed in a truck and shipped out to groups who support vulnerable people across the region.

Invermay Park resident Val Backhouse went through the drop-off site on Monday, after her and her mother went out and purchased food for donation.

“There’s so many people out of work at the moment,” she said. “We just decided that we’d put in together and buy some food that people might be able to use. If you’re able to do it, you should probably do it.”

The emergency food relief drop-off point is open weekdays, between 10am and 12pm, in the Ballarat Library loading dock with entry via Market Street on the Armstrong Street side.

The site is collecting non-perishable food items including flour, tinned fruit and vegetables, long life milk, rice, tuna, soups, tea, coffee, pasta and pasta sauces as well as personal hygiene products.

Currently perishable foods are unable to be donated.