Lion-hearted: Torquay Lions start deliveries for Feed Me Surf Coast

THE recently established Feed Me Surf Coast is finding new mouths to feed every week and is getting valuable support on the delivery front from the Torquay Lions Club.
The not-for-profit community organisation collects spare food and excess produce from local businesses and shares it with members of the community who need it, no questions asked.
According to co-ordinator Brooke Murphy, the need for food is growing, particularly through the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have established a small distribution centre in Torquay where we receive food donated from several sources and prepare trays of meals tailored to each client’s needs,” she said.
“We are helping to reduce food waste from supermarkets and other commercial cafes and restaurants and food producers by sharing it with the community that may be needing it the most.
“Increasing deliveries of food from Lorne to Grovedale needs more volunteers to deliver the food safely according to food handling and COVID-19 requirements.”
The Torquay Lions Club has stepped into the breach and volunteered its services to help Feed Me Surf Coast.
After discussions with Ms Murphy, Torquay Lions Club president Bill Ferguson and his Global Action Team began providing drivers earlier this month.
“This the start,” Mr Ferguson said.
“We are very restricted in what we can do fundraising, so we are living up to our motto of ‘We Serve’ by helping our community in other ways.
“Providing drivers and delivery persons is the first way we can help Feed Me Surf Coast, but we are hoping to help them in their great work in unloading trucks, sorting meals and whatever else we can do to reduce the unrealistic load being carried by their small group
of volunteers.”
Feed Me Surf Coast initially started in the Torquay SLSC clubrooms in April as an offshoot of parent organisation Feed Me Bellarine – which was set up in Ocean Grove last year – but has since found a permanent distribution centre elsewhere in Torquay.
This distribution centre is not open to the public and Feed Me Surf Coast is only running its emergency food relief from there until it is able to service the community in the same way that Feed Me Bellarine does.
For more information on Feed Me Surf Coast, phone 0438 614 790, email [email protected] or head to facebook.com/feedmesurfcoast.