Pantry sees Foodbank boost

TWO community groups in the shire’s north have banded together to better the battle against food insecurity in the region.

Volunteers with the Linton Food Pantry and the Linton and District Men’s Shed have teamed up in an effort to receive support from Foodbank Victoria.

After nearly a decade of providing food and supplies to the community, Linton Food Pantry’s Kylie Turville said Foodbank backing is essential following COVID and cost of living struggles.

“Usage of the pantry has increased significantly especially over the last 12 months,” she said.

“Prior to that, we were able to sustain using donations to refill the pantry but that’s proven to be very difficult.

“Now that we’ve got this partnership with the Linton Men’s Shed, it means we’ve got access to Foodbank Victoria and that provides us access to a wider range of goods.”

The food pantry is being restocked each week with fresh fruit and vegetables with other goods like pasta, milk, yoghurt, spaghetti, toothpaste, and frozen meals to be requested through Foodbank Ballarat.

“It’s a lot of the staple goods we’d be purchasing anyway,” Ms Turville said. “When we’re getting a bit low on certain things, we can put in the order and by the next week, it’ll be delivered.

The partnership came about due to the Men’s Shed charity status, which was needed to attain Foodbank support.

Ms Turville estimated the use of the pantry’s stock has more than doubled since its establishment eight years ago.

She said becoming involved with Foodbank will support the Men’s Shed members as well.

“We can actually give them goods for their members so they can have a small table at their shed they can access from there rather than the pantry,” she said.

“Men who are alone or have lost their wives, sometimes their cooking skills aren’t that great and the only homecooked meal they get is at the Men’s Shed.

“It means we can support them a lot more and provide them with goods on the table.”

Both groups are set to host an event around September in celebration of the partnership.

Based at the Linton Community Hub, the food pantry is open from Fridays to Mondays.