Geelong Food Relief Centre gets state grant

GEELONG Food Relief Centre is one of four organisations that will receive a state government grant to improve co-ordination of the supply and distribution of food across Victoria.

Headquarted in North Geelong, the centre will use the grant to implement a new distribution model to manage and deliver food from Geelong across western Victoria, including to Horsham, Colac and the Golden Plains Shire.

Geelong Food Relief Centre distributes about 95 tonnes of food a month across the five municipalities in the G21 region and supports well over 20,000 people weekly, and has increased food distribution by 33 per cent in the 2023-24 financial year compared to the previous year.

“We know many families are doing it tough right now, and by backing our local food relief organisations, we can ensure that households in the Geelong region can access support when they need it most,” Lara MP Ella George said.

“The Geelong Food Relief Centre assists thousands of people across the Geelong region.

“This grant will ensure families have access to food relief when faced with difficult times.”

Geelong MP Christine Couzens said Geelong’s food relief services did a great job in providing for families in need across the Geelong region.

“This grant will enable Geelong Food Relief Centre to co-ordinate a more efficient food distribution system, providing more families with the food they need.”

The state government’s $4.5 million Community Food Relief Program includes the Co-ordination Grants announced on Thursday last week, and Local Grants to be announced in coming weeks, helping respond to rising demand for food relief amid cost-of-living pressures experienced by individuals and families.

Last week’s grants will support the supply and distribution of food across 26 local government areas and benefit more than 400 charity partners.

The other recipients are OzHarvest, SecondBite and the Regional Food Security Alliance.

“We’re enabling collaboration between food relief providers right across Victoria, to reduce duplication, increase efficiency, pool resources, and ultimately – get more food to people in need,” Minister for Carers and Volunteers Ros Spence said.

“By supporting these four organisations to better coordinate their efforts, we’re also supporting the hundreds of charity partners and the people who rely on their services for fresh and healthy food.”