Corio Foodshare set for annual market

ST ANDREWS Church in Corio is ready to be lined with a variety of stalls, raffle prizes, and food trucks this Saturday, June 11 as Corio Foodshare continues its fight against food insecurity in Geelong’s northern suburbs.

The annual market fundraiser hosted by Corio Foodshare, located next to the church, has been put on hold the last two years due to COVID-19, but organisers Bianca Cotone and Derek Wyse are excited to get it back up and running.

“Some people might think that because this event is being held at a church, the concept of religion might alienate them, but that is certainly not the case,” Ms Cotone said.

“Everyone is welcome: bring your friends, bring your family, bring your dogs. I want to see as many dogs as possible.”

All funds raised from stall fees, raffles and other extras will go straight to the Foodshare to purchase more food to give to struggling North Geelong residents who are falling on hard times.

Mr Wyse said food donations from the Foodshare have declined following pandemic restrictions easing, but have levelled out since then.

The main issue the Foodshare faces now is obtaining sufficient food amounts from the Geelong Food Bank, which has provided less and less produce in recent times to the team.

“We’re short on things like cereal and milk at the moment. We do an order from the food bank every fortnight but we’re finding there’s less and less that we can order from them,” Mr Wyse said.

“What we can’t get food-wise, we have to get from supermarkets at normal price, and we’re struggling to get food in-date. But because people need it, they generally don’t ask questions.”

Saturday’s event will place the food trucks out the front of the church, meanwhile market stalls promoting and selling things like plants, handcrafted goods and tupperware will be located inside the church along with the raffle prizes.

The event will run from 9am-3pm located on 104 Bacchus Marsh Road, Corio (opposite Corio Village).