Houses helping those in need

PEOPLE experiencing food insecurity can find relief at meal and pantry programs at the Eaglehawk and Kangaroo Flat community houses.

Tracey Moss, who manages both locations, said the meals and open pantries were accessed by a range of people including those with disabilities, carers, and young parents.

“It’s an absolute mix,” she said, “it’s people that are losing hours, it’s young parents, it’s just people struggling with the cost of living and the economics that we’re seeing going on in life these days.

“People can reach out anytime and we’ll help them in any way that we can,” she said.

The Eaglehawk Neighbourhood House hosts a community lunch every Tuesday as well as low-cost pre-cooked meals prepared by volunteers.

Kangaroo Flats has a community barbecue every Thursday and has a free pantry of staples that can be accessed by anyone in need.

“We do food assistance here every Thursday,” she said, “we coincide that with our community barbecue lunch so that people can go away with something in their tummy as well.

“But we have a nice open pantry where people can reach out for fresh fruit and veggies and lots of different grocery items.”

The community houses receive the bulk of the food they use for both houses from Foodbank Victoria, and Bendigo Foodshare contributes to the Eaglehawk house.

“We don’t get funding,” she said. “The focus has gone from supporting this kind of frontline support but we’re still managing to do it.

“Obviously we survive a lot on volunteer kindness and the genuine hearts of our volunteers supporting their community members.”

Ms Moss said she had noticed greater demand for the meal programs in recent years.

“We’ve been seeing a rise for the last two years and we’re connecting with around 600 to 700 people per week at the moment over at the Eaglehawak community house.

“And that’s for a mix of things, it is activities, but it is definitely that food assistance, it’s the community meals,” she said.

Eaglehawk Community House is open from 9am to 3pm Monday to Friday and located at 19 Bright Street in Eaglehawk.

The doors are open at Kangaroo Flat Community house Tuesday to Thursday from 9.30am to 3pm and it can be found at 21 Woolcock Avenue in Kangaroo Flat.