COVID-19 Australia Project #46158

Feed Geelong: Accessing food during COVID-19

by Give Where You Live Incorporated

Project Report | Nov 23, 2020
Feed Geelong: Accessing food during COVID-19

By KERRY FARRANCE | Head of Impact

Give Where You Live Foundation continues to support the delivery of food relief and to support increased demand for support as a result of the COVID-19 criris in our region.

Give Where You Live Foundation operates in Victoria in Australia which has experienced some of the strictest and tightest lockdown requirements we sought to gain control of the COVID-19 outbreak on our community. Whilst the results of these restrictions have actually made significant impact on reducing and reversing the spread of the virus, it has placed considerable stress on familes, communities and the local economy. The long term impacts of this are yet to be realised.

During this period we have comtinued to see an increase in deland for food relief assistance, and with the decrease in government support payments over the last couple of months, this has increased further. We are also seeing increases in demand from members of the community who have previously never needed to seek assistance until now. Give Where You Live has responded in a number of ways over the past few months:

Continued collation and publication of information on where people can access food relief across our region.
Funding an additional 13 grants to local community organisations to directly assist with the provision of food relief to meet current levels of demand - grant funding totaled $69,304.
Implemented our local FEED Geelong appeal, raising awareness and also raising around $27,600 in funds to contribute towards local food relief.
Created resources for the local food relief sector to support COVID-19 safe practices in food services and volunteer assistance at this time.

Give Where You Live Foundation continues to monitor the current sitation and needs of communtiy, and adapt our response to better meet the increase demand at this time.

Yoy can find out more about the impact of COVID-19 on the local food relief sector here:

https://www.givewhereyoulive.com.au/2020/10/food-insecurity-and-the-covid-19-crisis/

Community Stories

Mark is no stranger to accessing food assistance and has been a client of the Geelong Food Relief Centre
over the past 6 years. Struggling to secure full-time employment, Mark has often commented that he has no idea where he would be today if it wasn’t for the food assistance – and friendship – offered by the staff and volunteers of the Geelong Food Relief Centre’s mini-mart thanks to the support of your donations through Feed Geelong.

You can read the full story here https://www.feedgeelong.org.au/2020/09/2607

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