New site for charity

Councillor Bruce Hardwood, Geelong United Basketball CEO Mark Neeld and fellow councillor Pat Murnane. Picture: Geelong United Basketball.

THANKS to the generosity of the Torquay Christian Fellowship Church, Torquay Food Aid (TFA) is continuing to deliver food throughout the community from a new location.
TFA has been without a permanent site since March, and after temporarily moving into facilities at the church on Grossmans Road, the charity will call a portable building behind the church home for the next year thanks to the generosity of the fellowship and pastor Danny McDowell.
“We are more than happy to have Torquay Food Aid here, the work they do is great for our community,” Mr McDowell said.
TFA secretary Lois Gill said about 20 volunteers had been working from the new building for the past two weeks, sorting and packing food for food aid recipients.
Ms Gill, who has volunteered with the charity for 19 years, encouraged people who needed additional food and support to contact TFA to access services.
“We understand, we welcome you and we really want to help,” she said.
“The way we run it, when it was normally run prior to restrictions, is that we don’t just give them food, we give them love and attention, we listen and it’s a haven for them.”

TFA has provided the Torquay and surrounding communities with additional fresh and packaged food sources, and cooked meals for the past 26 years.
Ms Gill said people could contact TFA to organize food collection, or to have food boxes delivered, and thanks to the generosity of the Surf Coast Shire council, Torquay Food Aid will buy a new freezer to store frozen meals.

Gail Rooney has volunteered with Torquay Food Aid for more than 10 years.

Torquay Food Aid has partnered with the RACV Community Foundation to provide prepared meals, each pack with a serving size of two, to supplements their usual offerings of fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, bread and nonperishable food items, which Geelong Food Relief Centre and SecondBite donate to the charity.
Torquay Food Aid also purchases supplied form Torquay IGA.

People wanting to donate non-perishable items can do so at the Ryan’s IGA drop-off point, while people can make financial donations to TFA’s bank account (BSB: 633-108, ACC: 156-144-321)