"We just have to be out there all the time trying to get more food. "Companies are donating but it's not enough," Ms Neshoda said. The warehouse also distributes food three times a week to agencies that are feeding people in the wider region.įood is sourced from local shops, but also from Foodbank's Adelaide warehouse because of the huge demand. Locals are referred by charities to the Mount Gambier hub, where they can access free and heavily discounted food. Demand doubles in south-east SAįoodbank Limestone Coast branch manager Lynne Neshoda said the regional warehouse and hub had seen a doubling in demand in the past year. The kitchen raises all its own funds and buys specials in bulk to freeze, while the rest is bought from the local Foodbank at prices far cheaper than the supermarket. "I went there the other day and there was this great big pumpkin sitting by the door," Ms Thomson said. Home gardeners often call to donate excess produce, while food is sometimes left on the doorstep. For example, a local winery donated two ute loads of onions and potatoes last week, while one local chicken farm donates eggs. Volunteers cook and serve food both purchased and donated locally. ![]() She said volunteers working with one Millicent charity reported being "inundated" with requests for emergency meals.Ĭommunity kitchens can provide warm, nutritious meals to people in need. The Red Cross held a town meeting in the south-east South Australian town of Millicent this week to find ways of meeting a massive demand for food relief. "We have a lot of isolation, we have transport networks that make the cost of food higher, we have fewer options available," she said. Red Cross health and wellbeing officer Lisa Clark said it could be particularly tough for rural people to access healthy, affordable food. This is expected to provide 6 million meals in the first year alone. Ms Kahn said OzHarvest hoped the system could support an extra 600 charities and rescue a further 2,000 tonnes of food from going to landfill. The app has been trialled with supermarkets and bakeries across almost every state. OzHarvest has just launched an app that will link rural charities with businesses that have surplus food. ![]() "We then teach that food donor how to connect that food with the charity, and we manage that process so that if it falls down after connecting the two of them we either make sure we rebuild it or find another source of either food, or a recipient to take that food," Ms Kahn said. App connects charitiesĬharities with food to spare and charities that need it can register on the OzHarvest app, after which OzHarvest makes contact and brings them together. OzHarvest said it was not sustainable to operate its bright yellow food vans in every community, and instead launched the app to bring rural food charities and businesses together. Ms Kahn said more than 4 million Australians needed food relief each year - with those in regional and remote areas a third more likely to experience food insecurity. "There might be a business that is throwing away food in regional Australia because they don't have a solution and around the corner could be a charitable organisation that needs food," Ms Kahn said. OzHarvest founder and CEO Ronni Kahn said there was a huge and growing demand for food relief in regional areas while food was being thrown away because businesses did not know where to send it. While communities continue to grow street gardens in a bid to access fresh food, OzHarvest has just launched an app that links rural charities with businesses that have surplus food.
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