Corinella food pantry volunteers Kylie Hakim, left, and Janice Orchard. The service has just started stocking
dairy items again so the fridge looks a bit bare!
By Kerri Richie
BEING able to put food on the table for yourself and your family is a basic human right. It should not be a privilege or a challenge.
Corinella and District Community Centre (CDCC) has operated a food pantry/emergency food relief/foodbank service for over 10 years. This has helped hundreds of people over the years to meet this basic right and to relieve just a bit of the pressure in stressful times.
In 2019 our pantry assisted more than 355 people. During the lockdown year of 2020, when we only operated one day per week for most of the year, we still assisted over 225 local people.
Who uses our food pantry? Well, that changes from time to time.
BEING able to put food on the table for yourself and your family is a basic human right. It should not be a privilege or a challenge.
Corinella and District Community Centre (CDCC) has operated a food pantry/emergency food relief/foodbank service for over 10 years. This has helped hundreds of people over the years to meet this basic right and to relieve just a bit of the pressure in stressful times.
In 2019 our pantry assisted more than 355 people. During the lockdown year of 2020, when we only operated one day per week for most of the year, we still assisted over 225 local people.
Who uses our food pantry? Well, that changes from time to time.
Recently we have seen more people who are underemployed and working in the tourism and hospitality sector. This last lockdown was really hard on that group.
We have also seen families whose work hours have decreased and whose rent has increased excessively. Winter brings us those who can afford either food or heat and use our service only in the coldest months when they must pay for heating.
As it gets colder we have fewer people who are living rough or living in their cars. Sometimes we see people only once, sometimes for a few months.
We don’t receive government funding for this service; it is all funded through the activities we run at the centre and through donations.
COVID gave us some new challenges. For many years our food pantry was housed in a converted cleaner’s cupboard. It was big enough to store a good supply of food staples but not big enough, really, for two people. Density requirements for COVID meant it was not actually usable within the restrictions.
So we moved our food pantry into our small meeting room, which was no longer big enough for small meetings, and sought funding to furnish this new space. Bass Coast Shire Council came through with a community grant for shelving and cupboards.
The expanded pantry is now set up and, we believe, provides those needing this service with a better, more respectful, experience. We have already helped over 100 people from this new expanded space.
Our food pantry provides basic pantry staples such as UHT milk, cereal, pasta, sauce and canned goods as well as a few extras. Most of our supplies come from FoodBank at a very generous rate. We can only get shelf goods from FoodBank, no dairy or fresh items, so we do rely on local donations for these additional goods.
We are contacting local suppliers to increase our availability of fresh produce, something we could not provide during 2020. La Provincia, a long-term supporter, has come back on board with a regular donation of fruit and vegetables.
We would love to hear from other local suppliers of fruit, vegetables, bread or any other fresh items who may be able to offer support. We also have great support from a number of local groups such as Lions and CWA.
Watersure staff and a number of other individuals are also strong supporters. We would love to hear from you.
If you or someone you know needs the support of this service, simply call into the centre during opening hours with a grocery bag to pack your goods in.
Corinella and District Community Centre is your local not for profit Neighbourhood House. Phone 5678 0777 or email [email protected]
We have also seen families whose work hours have decreased and whose rent has increased excessively. Winter brings us those who can afford either food or heat and use our service only in the coldest months when they must pay for heating.
As it gets colder we have fewer people who are living rough or living in their cars. Sometimes we see people only once, sometimes for a few months.
We don’t receive government funding for this service; it is all funded through the activities we run at the centre and through donations.
COVID gave us some new challenges. For many years our food pantry was housed in a converted cleaner’s cupboard. It was big enough to store a good supply of food staples but not big enough, really, for two people. Density requirements for COVID meant it was not actually usable within the restrictions.
So we moved our food pantry into our small meeting room, which was no longer big enough for small meetings, and sought funding to furnish this new space. Bass Coast Shire Council came through with a community grant for shelving and cupboards.
The expanded pantry is now set up and, we believe, provides those needing this service with a better, more respectful, experience. We have already helped over 100 people from this new expanded space.
Our food pantry provides basic pantry staples such as UHT milk, cereal, pasta, sauce and canned goods as well as a few extras. Most of our supplies come from FoodBank at a very generous rate. We can only get shelf goods from FoodBank, no dairy or fresh items, so we do rely on local donations for these additional goods.
We are contacting local suppliers to increase our availability of fresh produce, something we could not provide during 2020. La Provincia, a long-term supporter, has come back on board with a regular donation of fruit and vegetables.
We would love to hear from other local suppliers of fruit, vegetables, bread or any other fresh items who may be able to offer support. We also have great support from a number of local groups such as Lions and CWA.
Watersure staff and a number of other individuals are also strong supporters. We would love to hear from you.
If you or someone you know needs the support of this service, simply call into the centre during opening hours with a grocery bag to pack your goods in.
Corinella and District Community Centre is your local not for profit Neighbourhood House. Phone 5678 0777 or email [email protected]