Feed Me to offer food and connection in St Albans Park

NOT-FOR-PROFIT food charity Feed Me has closed its Newtown site and is preparing to open the doors to its new location in St Albans Park.

Located at 44 Westmoreland Street, the new site has a small carpark for customers and will house a marketplace and have coffee on offer.

It will open to the public on March 2.

Until then, Feed Me is continuing to operate its food relief service from the new site.

Director Lana Purcell said the benefits of the St Albans Park location were two-fold.

“We have a huge amount of clients that are situated in the St Albans Park/Whittington area.

“We can take them off our delivery runs and save some time, effort and money in travelling to people but also, it’s just as important for them to have some community connection and have a safe space.”

Feed Me Geelong manager Samantha Harrison said unlike the Newtown site, the charity’s new location was ideally situated among residential homes, allowing it to better foster community building.

“Being in a location like this means that we can facilitate that and be a community hub where people can come and have a coffee, they can have a cake, they can grab their groceries if they need to, and they can volunteer.”

Ms Harrison estimated the site would service 800 homes across the region, but walk-in clients were steadily increasing.

“We’re noticing a lot of first timers, so people that have never had to rely on any social service support before,” she said.

“That’s why it’s really good that we operate with no questions and no agendas.

“They don’t have to prove anything so it’s quite comfortable for them.”

The charity operates two additional arms, located in Ocean Grove and Torquay.

Ms Purcell said the service was available to everyone and many of the organisation’s new clients were those who required support but might not be able to get access to services easily because they were paying a mortgage or owned a car.

“The way that we run, we work through the whole gamut of people, from kids in Whittington to kids in Torquay, to the elderly in Winchelsea.

“There’s problems everywhere.”

Ms Purcell said the biggest misconception about Feed Me was that its products were only available to those in need.

Rather, the organisation relies on the ongoing support of the surrounding community to ensure the service remains financially sustainable.

“We need the community to support us financially by shopping here, because if they don’t, we’ll have to close this place,” Ms Purcell said.

“It can be as little as $2; it could be anything.

“If we had 200 people a day coming here at $5 a day, we’re sustainable.”

She encouraged community members to support the charity by dropping by for a coffee or choosing to do their pre-shop at the St Albans Park site when it opens its doors next month.

The charity is also seeking additional volunteers.

For more information, head to feedme.org.au