by Sue Ryan
- $10,000 funding received from the Give Where You Live Foundation for use over the 2023-24 year. Majority covered the cost of the Food Security Officer working 8 hours a fortnight for funded period.
- The Food Security Coordinator was Hesse Rural Health’s Health Promotion Officer – Hannah Walker
- The Food Security Officer assembled a group of 8-10 community members who met 5 times over 6 months. This group was known as the Food Access Action Group and comprised a selection of community members who were well connected, had experience working within the food relief sector or had lived experience of food insecurity or were passionate about seeing the project come to life.
- Across the 5 months, the group was presented with a literature review (written by the Food Security Officer) that packaged the various food relief models and their pros and cons. Using this information the group voted anonymously for their preferred model.
- Once the model was selected – a foodbank – the group worked to design everything from the logo, operational hours and days, the location of the foodbank, eligibility criteria and operational processes
- It was initially hoped the foodbank would open early in 2024, however for a multitude of reasons the foodbank did not open until June 2024.
- Reasons for the delayed opening included:
- Logistics of finding and moving into a venue
- Establishing an account with Foodbank Victoria – this is a selection process and was slower than usual due to staff turnover at Foodbank Victoria.
- Recruiting, conducting the relevant checks and onboarding volunteers.
- Hesse’s volunteer coordinator had resigned, and Hannah was initially waiting for this potion to be filled. As it became apparent that the position was not going to be filled quickly, Hannah had to navigate the process of onboarding and registering volunteers. This was a new and subsequently slow process to begin with.
- More than 20 volunteers have now been onboarded with 15 current volunteers.
- The foodbank has been opening weekly on Fridays between 12-2 and is seeing an average of 40 consumers per week, with a current maximum of 53 consumers through the door.
- When considering the number of people per household, the Winchelsea Community Foodbank is feeding an average of 97 per week. This equates to around 400kg of food and household necessities being distributed each week.
- We are proud that wastage is minimised through:
- Transporting leftover fresh fruit and veg and bread to the Honest and Free stand on Barwon Terrace
- Any subpar produce is either moved to the Winchelsea Men’s Shed compost or collected by eager community members for their animals
- As we are now in our second year we are excited by being able to continue operating with the success of some additional grants for 2024/2025. These include $20,000 from the Give Where You Live Foundation and $25,000 from the Geelong Community Foundation.
- These funds will ensure the continued employment of a Food Security Officer who will be responsible for the ongoing management and growth of the Winchelsea Community Foodbank.
- It is envisioned that the Food Security Officer will support the Foodbank to provide skill and capacity building programs. These programs will teach and empower consumers to grow, prepare and cook their own nutritious food.
- Hannah has resigned from Hesse and subsequently the Food Security Officer has been advertised and been successfully appointed.
- The incoming Food Security Officer will work 2 days a week until June 30th 2025.