Bellarine charities share in $35,000 to help feed increased demand

A COMMUNITY-driven food relief and rescue program based in Ocean Grove is one of seven organisations to share in $35,000 of emergency grants.

Feed Me Bellarine will receive $5000 from the Give Where You Live Foundation to help with increased demand for its services due to the pandemic, which has been heightened further by lockdowns.

Other organisations across the G21 region to receive funding include Drysdale Family Support, Christ Church Community Meals, Geelong Food Relief Centre, Wesley Welcome Place, Uniting and OneCare Geelong.

Give Where You Live Foundation chief executive officer Bill Mithen said the emergency grants were a way for the foundation to quickly respond to the increased pressure being experienced by its community partners.

He said the Foundation’s purpose was to create a fairer community, and it was committed to assisting whenever it could.

“At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 we were fortunate enough to be able to release emergency grants to several frontline organisations,” he said.

“Given the current urgency and demand we are seeing in the community, we felt it important to reassign some of our resources to help further.”

Mr Mithen said the pandemic had changed every aspect of our lives, and almost every aspect of the social sector had seen an increase in need.

“From people needing safe and secure places to spend lockdown, to people needing access to food as well as record-breaking numbers of people accessing mental health services.

“It is important that those organisations, such As Give Where You Live Foundation, who have a role in supporting the social sector, provide as much assistance as they are able.”

Mr Mithen said when it came to helping, there was no time like the present.

“As a Foundation, we place a lot of importance on the idea of preventing these issues and building a resilient community, but also we must be quick to react when emergency circumstances arise.”

Recently, the foundation partnered with Deakin University’s Dr Fiona McKay to conduct research regarding the impact of the pandemic on food security within the region, resulting in the Food for Thought Report.

The Food for Thought report found that 71 per cent of food relief agencies in the region reported an impact on food supply as a result of the pandemic, while 50 per cent of these respondents reported they recently had trouble meeting the needs of all of their clients.

Dr McKay said the emergency and community food assistance sector would continue to struggle to provide food for all those in need, as the sector was now an embedded part of the welfare system, and it was unlikely that welfare would increase to a level that would provide sufficient financial support for all those in need.