Bellarine food sharing program helping feed vulnerable families

“NO QUESTIONS and no agendas” is the concept behind a community driven food sharing program based in Ocean Grove that is feeding vulnerable families across the Bellarine.

Feed Me Bellarine is the brainchild of Lana Purcell, owner of Belly Bowls and Bellarine Catering, and chef Anthony Woodbury.

The duo is working on saving food waste from two commercial food stores as well as other commercial cafes/restaurants and food producers by sharing it with community members who may be needing it the most.

“I’ve been catering for about five years now and because we do bulk catering, we had a lot of food left over,” Lana said.

“So what we were doing internally was packaging up and giving it to staff and anyone we knew who was struggling at the time.

“But when Anthony came on board, he pushed for us to feed more people.”

Lana and Anthony, who have both experienced some hard times throughout their lives, stress that Feed Me Bellarine is not church-based or funded, and have created the concept “no questions and no agendas”.

“We have no connection with anything and just want to help… everyone needs a hand up now and then,” Lana said.

The first night Feed Me Bellarine operated was out of a church in Portarlington, where Anthony gave out about 50 meals.

“We put it out to the community and people came to the church and picked up food and we did a few deliveries to houses in Ocean Grove, Portarlington, Drysdale, Clifton Springs and St Leonards,” she said.

Anthony said depending on how much food the businesses had left over would determine how many people they could help.

“The other night I went to St Leonards and a group of 10 people got enough for two nights each,” he said.

“We also have 10 meals we’ll go drop off as we have some regular families.”

Lana said vulnerability was a strength, and that she wanted to make people aware that asking for help was not asking others to feel sorry for them.

“We’ve both been there and when you’re vulnerable you need help.

“If you ask, most people want to help you and they actually are appreciative that you can show you are vulnerable and say I’m not ok.”

Anthony said he wanted to reach out to other café/restaurants, bakeries and food producers, which might have left over food that Feed Me Bellarine could distribute to people in need.

He also said that one day, Feed Me Bellarine hoped to not just give out food, but give people receiving the food an opportunity to give back, in a work experience type of setting.

Lana said that it didn’t matter if people were well off or not well off, but there was always a point in anyone’s life when they might need a little bit of help and that’s where Feed Me Bellarine was able to assist.

To contact Feed Me Bellarine, phone 0422 798 791 or message them through their Facebook page.