Carevan Wagga President David Brennan and Albury-Wodonga Regional Foodshare CEO Katrina Pawley with the Carevan volunteers who make more than 600 meals weekly. Photo: Erin Hee.
Albury-Wodonga Regional Foodshare has expanded its food rescue and relief operations into Wagga Wagga, delivering essential supplies to service partners such as Carevan to help address the food insecurity stemming from skyrocketing costs.
Australians waste around 7.6 million tonnes of food each year, which accounts for about three per cent of annual greenhouse gas emissions and costs around $36.6 billion each year.
On top of that, more than one in eight Australian households did not have enough food to meet basic needs in 2023.
Foodshare’s three-year Feed More, Waste Less project, which prevents surplus food from going into landfills by redirecting them to service partners, reduces the impact on the environment and supports people struggling to access healthy and fresh food.
Wagga MP Dr Joe McGirr called the initiative a “double win”.
“Just to think of a fifth of food in supermarkets not consumed is actually quite distressing, particularly when we we know that there are people who are struggling to sometimes to find enough food to eat,” he said.
“We’ve got waste on one hand, which is contaminating the environment, and a need on the other.”
Wagga Mayor Dallas Tout doesn’t find it surprising there is still so much food insecurity in the region, but wishes that wasn’t the case.
“The whole basis and the demand for those sort of organisations … is the fact that food insecurity has been in community for a long time, and still continues to be,” he said.
“With cost of living, it is critical to have this [sort of initiative].
“It’s horrible to say that I’m not surprised, but I wish I wasn’t surprised. I wish that wasn’t the case.”
Albury Wodonga Regional Foodshare has expanded its food rescue and relief operations into Wagga. Photo: Erin Hee.
Albury-Wodonga Regional Foodshare CEO Katrina Pawley said the organisation had been supporting 600 Wagga families on top of those in the 150 kilometre radius from Wodonga it serviced in the 15 years it had been operating in the border region.
Part of it is through its Wodonga social supermarket, which also sees a small percentage of visitors from Wagga.
She said the team had already exceeded the three-year target (which was to collect an additional 3500 kilograms of food per week from NSW) in the first year, and clarified that the food rescued came from supermarkets, manufacturers, farmers and national food relief providers.
“If there is surplus in the region, we’re able to distribute further,” she said.
“But the idea is that we are just rescuing more food, and we’re now bringing it to the Wagga community.
“Food hasn’t come from Wagga supermarkets; so there’s already been relationships whereby there’s volunteers that collect locally from the supermarkets here, and they share it with the agencies here already.”
Carevan Wagga jumped in straight away when approached by Foodshare a few months ago, and president David Brennan said the rewards were already materialising. With its food costs having gone up 20 per cent in the past year, this collaboration was a “godsend”.
“We really appreciate the amount of food items that have come along,” he said.
“We receive no government funding whatsoever, so we really rely heavily on donations.”
Carevan volunteers make 600-plus meals a week for families struggling with the cost of living. Photo: Erin Hee.
Having more ingredients takes the pressure off Carevan financially and allows it to make about 600-plus meals a week for community members struggling with the cost of living.
Foodshare’s Feed More, Waste Less program is funded by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
Carevan is always looking for more volunteers. Respond to the call at Carevan’s How To Volunteer page.
