By Molly Taylor
FOODBANK Mount Gambier is working hard to deliver essential items to the region’s most vulnerable this festive season despite major disruptions during its busiest time of the year.
The not-for-profit organisation recently entered its peak season, working around the clock to distribute hundreds of kilos of food and a shipment of over 500 Christmas hampers which recently arrived at the warehouse.
The branch has 30 volunteers who help disperse food and items right across the Limestone Coast.
This year alone, the hub has distributed more than 380,000 meals and branch manager Lynne Neshoda said service demand continued to grow.
Ms Neshoda said this month’s “circuit-breaker” three-day lockdown had created an extra week of work for the hub and meant Christmas plans had to be put on hold for a short period.
“We had around 110 BHP hampers and fruit and veg packed on the Wednesday (November 18) which were meant to be distributed on Thursday to schools. We didn’t know what to do with them,” she said.
“It wasn’t necessarily the hampers we worried about, but more so the fruit and veg we had packed.
“We ended up giving away a whole lot more to anyone who visited the hub during lockdown.
“On Monday (November 23), everything went back to normal and we had to repack everything again and reschedule routines for it to all be sent out.”
The Mount Gambier branch along with all other South Australia warehouses, were still open during lockdown as Foodbank is considered an essential service.
Ms Neshoda said before lockdown, she planned to also organise a Christmas delivery schedule, but was still trying to find time to organise that process.
“I also had eight pallet bins of fruit and veg due Friday, which still came, but I didn’t know where I was going to put it,” she said.
“I spent most of my Friday on the phone to different agencies just trying to work out how we were going to get the food out. Even though we were in lockdown, people were still hungry.
“I just guess we’re glad and lucky the state got back up and running again quickly.”
Ms Neshoda said Christmas was sometimes the most difficult period for many and even more so this year due to COVID-19.
“We are hearing from a lot of families, they just do not know what they’re going to do,” she said.
“How can they tell their child they are not going to get anything from Santa, that’s pretty tough. There are more and more families who are struggling due to COVID-19, not having work or hit with bigger electricity bills as people are working or spending more time at home.
“Right across the board, numbers are rising, a lot of university students, migrants and many others.”
The hub recently announced it had acquired its Cave Road premises after receiving $200,000 worth of Federal Government funding, $322,000 from generous community donations and $29,000 provided by Foodbank South Australia.
The acquisition meant the building could be upgraded, with development of a new cool room and freezer recently installed to expand its storage space, now having the ability to hold up to 90,000 kilograms of food ,as well as renovations including painting and installation of hot water.
“Foodbank needed to acquire the property to be able to further upgrade the infrastructure to support food security activities,” Member for Barker Tony Pasin said.
“This funding has helped to make this a reality so the invaluable service can support more people in need.
“Whether it is catastrophic bushfires or the COVID-19 pandemic, Foodbank is always there for people in need and this project will allow for them to expand and help even more Australians.”
Foodbank Mount Gambier will be holding its annual Christmas canned food drive at the Mount Gambier Marketplace on Saturday and Coles Mount Gambier will have a drop-off bin at its opening on December 9.
Foodbank can be contacted on 8723 0287 for enquiries.
