A note from Greg Pattinson, CEO, Foodbank SA

The past few months has seen Foodbank SA undertake a huge amount of activity to support those in need in our state.

During Anti-Poverty Week we launched a special edition of the annual Foodbank Hunger Report, that focussed on the impacts of COVID-19 on food security. The report highlighted that approximately 13% of South Australians had experienced food insecurity during the pandemic. That is more than 220,000 South Australians that wouldn’t have known where their next meal was coming from if it weren’t for Foodbank SA and the work we do in the community.

In conjunction with the RAA, our team ran an Anti-Poverty Week Food Drive that enabled us to put an additional 15,000 meals directly to the table of those in need that week. It was particularly heart-warming to see the direct impacts of community food donations in Victor Harbour that were distributed to families in need in the region on the same day.

This month we launched our exciting new Human Beans – the Grounds for Good project along with our project partners, Neutrog, OTR, Biobag and Detmold. This project will not only reduce waste but with the proceeds we will be able to put additional meals on the table of South Australians in need.

Our regional operations were busy, with the official celebration of our Mount Gambier property acquisition, we welcomed Jodi Fraterman as our new Whyalla Branch Manager and Foodbank Riverland held their annual golf day that will help put 10,000 meals on the table of those in need. We are grateful for our Regional Managers and the local support in these respective communities.

With Christmas fast approaching we are now well and truly into our Christmas Hamper Packing program and have already seen a number of our major partners volunteering at Edwardstown. We will soon commence our Christmas appeal to ensure we can continue to provide food relief during the festive period.

As Summer approaches, we have commenced planning with the SA Government for bushfire preparedness. While we hope that our services are not required, we must ensure that we have the plans in place to react quickly in the event of another disaster, as Foodbank is an acknowledged essential service during these events and the primary provider of food relief.

We are on a mission to end hunger but realise we can’t do this alone and once again take this time to thank our valued supporters, the network of agencies and schools, our volunteers and staff, collectively you are “Team Foodbank“.