It’s that time of year once again!
The Give Where You Live Foundation’s annual Feed Geelong Appeal to fight hunger across our region is running until Sunday 17 October.
The Feed Geelong Appeal raises funds to support food relief across the wider Geelong region. This support helps to fund grants to support food relief through the Foundation’s Survive & Thrive grant round.
But, what is food insecurity?
Food insecurity is basically having inadequate access to appropriate food. Not knowing what your next meal will be, when your next meal will be or how you’ll get your next meal.
And as a Foundation, we believe that’s something no one in our community should experience.
Our CEO, Bill Mithen, says it best, “Having access to a good supply of nutritious food is a human right. It doesn’t matter where you are. As a developed, prosperous city, we should all be working to change the food insecurity in our region.”
For many people, food insecurity is a complex issue – they may not have easy access to healthy options, they may be unable to get to a supermarket, they may not have the resources or knowledge to cook a meal.
The need that comes with food insecurity is varied and Feed Geelong can provide that varied solution, supporting different organisations throughout the region.
The pandemic impact
Our latest Food for Thought research report highlights that food insecurity has risen significantly since the start of the pandemic. And many food relief organisations have had challenges keeping up with the demand and many unable to even open during the lockdowns.
Since the start of the pandemic:
- 71% of food relief organisations have reported a major impact on food supply
- Many are struggling to ensure an adequate supply of fruit and vegetables
- 71% of organisations reported a loss in volunteer staff
- 91% of organisations reported concern for participants with the ending of JobKeeper
“We should all be incredibly grateful to the agencies and the people in those agencies who over the past 19 months have had to contend with some of the most intense conditions – feeling overwhelmed, overstretched, and under-resourced. Anything we can do to support them is important – whether that be moral support, financial support. Whatever we can to keep them going and keep these organisations supporting our region.” says Bill.
How Feed Geelong Appeal helps
The Feed Geelong Appeal assists in ensuring that despite these changes, the region has reliable access to food relief and reliable access to where, when, and how to access that relief.
The Feed Geelong vision is to create the most effective Regional Food Assistance System in Australia. This ‘safety net’ ensures that when people need food assistance, there is a myriad of ways for people to access that assistance.
All the funds raised during the Feed Geelong Appeal will directly assist those experiencing hunger across our region. Funds assist funding the Foundations direct assistance vouchers and help provide grants to front line organisation providing food relief through the Foundation’s Survive & Thrive grant round.
You can view the most recent round of grants working to deliver food relief across the region by clicking here https://www.feedgeelong.org.au/2021/07/2022-grant-recipients
How to get involved?
Donating to the Feed Geelong Appeal is a really practical way to help promote food security across our region, which simply means you’ll be helping someone eat tonight.
To make a donation, simply click here