Demand doubles for Feed Me services

COST of living pressures in households across the Surf Coast is contributing to a doubling of demand from Feed Me’s Torquay warehouse and shopfront.

Three consecutive months of interest rate rises coupled with increasing commodity costs including fuel, groceries and energy has prompted the food charity to up the amount of goods it processes from six to eight pallets a week in March, to 16 a week.

Co-ordinator Brooke Murphy said the number of people who shopped at Feed Me Surf Coast had doubled to about 150 since this time last year, with customers saying the cost of grocery shopping was contributing to household debt.

“We are shocked by the amount of people that say they can only afford to drive into us one day a week because of the fuel prices,” Ms Murphy said.

“People are living in a state of shock that it’s gone into this stage.”

Feed Me Surf Coast collects food and excess produce from supermarkets, wholesalers, growers and food charities to not only provide people in need with place to get groceries, but also provide a conscious shopping experience.

“We really are becoming known as a sustainability hub. A lot of farmers are coming in with a swap system, they have excess of what they’re growing so will swap with what we have… same with backyard gardeners.

“But more and more it’s everyday people that never thought that the cost of living would get this bad.”

Ms Murphy said the organisation could extend its hours to seven days a week if they had more volunteers to keep up with demand.

Torquay Warehouse volunteer Kevin said the rise in need for their service was resulting empty shelves by noon each day.

“We’ve really got to encourage people to take what they need and not overtake because we’ve got to leave some for others in the afternoon.”