Camperdown & District Food Bank: Servicing Corangamite

31 Jan Camperdown & District Food Bank: Servicing Corangamite

Our humble Food Bank service has been building and growing over recent years, and this includes the support we receive from our local community and the ongoing efforts of our amazing volunteer team.

Last year saw great development in local support

• We have now ongoing regular cash donations coming in from generous community members; this creates much needed support for the ongoing costs of running the food bank (purchasing food etc.)

• We recieve regular donations of food items from local community groups and individuals, with special thanks to our local CWA for thier ongoing support of this service in this way, along with the cash donations they provide for the service each year

• Simpson Lions Club made an incredible donation of $1,000.00 to food bank towards the end of 2023, one of the largest single donations the service has ever recieved

• Camperdown Theatre Company raised over $450.00 from donations taken at the 2023 Candles by Candlelight along with donations of food items

• Camperdown Veterinary Centre raised funds via donations taken for their annual photo with Santa event, along with generous collection of pet food that Manifold Place Community Health, one of our cherished service agency partners, distributed to members of the Corangmaite community leading up to the end of year

• Camperdown Woolworths donated reusable plastic bags for the canned goods that are included in our food hampers, to make it easier for our service agency partners to handle (they can get quite heavy)

• We are now an official part of the Ritchies IGA Community Benefits Donation program; you can now nominate the community house to receive benefits when you use your community benefits cards at our local IGA! These benefits go towards supporting our Food Bank

Unfortunately, we do not think that the need for food relief in Corangmamite will decrease in 2024, as the trend over recent years has seen the need across our region increasing each year. However, we are ready to support our community through our Food Bank service, and are continually improving the service to make sure we can continue to meet community need. We have personal hygiene products and pet food available as well as non-perishable food hampers. We are in the process of implementing a new system to access fresh food and frozen meals via Warrnambool Food Share, watch this space.

We have increased the number of community groups and service agencies we parnter with acorss the Shire, to expand the reach of this service to new areas of the Corangamite Shire that have not had regular access to the service before. We are always looking for new partners, if you are a part of a community group, service club or agency, school etc. within the Corangamite Shire and would be interesting in helping us distribute food hampers to your community, we would love to hear from you!

Summary of Camperdown & District Food Bank activity in 2023

Camperdown and District Food Bank is the only Food Bank Victoria registered Food Bank that services the Corangamite Shire

Camperdown Community House purchases all of the food and essential non-food items available via the food bank either from Foodbank Vic and supermarkets when goods needed are not available via Foodbank Vic. We have occasionally received donated food/goods from Warrnambool Food Share and Good 360. We also cover all overheads related to the food bank service, such as pest control and admin costs etc.

This service does not have recurrent funding, and in order to cover these costs and make sure we are able to maintain the service (and meet growing need), we have to secure non-recurrent grants, fundraising and donations. This is why the increasing community support (above) is so important and means so much. All donations received for food bank go towards purchasing food items and supports our community directly.

Read more about the Camperdown & District Food Bank and how you can access and/or support the service!

We sincerely thank everyone who has supported the food bank and community house in our delivery of this service, especially those who have kindly donated cash, food/good items, and in particular their time (our incredible volunteers). Our service would not be what it is without you all!

Special thanks to the South West Community Foundation for their ongoing support of this service since 2017 and for providing financial support as our pilot SPONSOR this year under our new Sponsorship Program.

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