Foodbank alliance adds helping hand

A desire to help people doing it tough has led two community resource centres to forge an alliance with Foodbank WA.

Foodbank’s big purple truck will soon be bringing monthly deliveries of cheap and healthy groceries to vulnerable members of the Harvey and Brunswick CRCs.

People can pre-order for the deliveries via appointments at the two centres.

The alliance was made after Brunswick and Harvey community resource centre staff began seeing an increase in people falling on tough times as payments like the COVID-19 supplement began to dry up, while local work opportunities remained thin on the ground, as in many regional centres.

The women decided to bring about change.

“It will be such a valuable service to bring to the community because transport can be so limited here,” Brunswick CRC manager Jo Dalton said.

She said in the past few months people who had never applied for Centrelink or other help had needed to access services.

“Foodbank is not just for people on welfare payments,” Mrs Dalton said.

“Low income earners, casual or part-time workers, single parents — they can all access Foodbank, and we can help them with the referral.

“Everyone falls on tough times. It’s no shame in needing a hand to get back on your feet.”

Harvey CRC manager Tracey-Ann Davis said transport was also a major hurdle for people needing to access services.

“A lot of people who access our services can only get to Bunbury by train,” she said.

“So once they have passed that initial step of getting a referral, they then have to find their way to Foodbank in Bunbury, which might be in a taxi from the train station.

“They then have to bring the items home, and some people have mobility issues.”

Both managers agreed that helping people spend less on groceries would help ease the burden on families.

“It means people have more money to spend on utilities and rent,” Mrs Dalton said.

A spokeswoman for Foodbank WA said they were proud to partner with the two community resource centres to deliver food hampers to their communities.