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Regional partnerships help to
meet growing demand
Living in regional and remote Western Australia is widely considered more expensive than Perth across a range of goods and services. Food is generally more expensive in regional Western Australian due to vast distances and transportation costs.
With many regional areas far from major distribution hubs the costs of fuel required for the long-distance transportation for fresh produce, meat and other goods are passed onto customers.
Regional WA is also more prone to supply chain disruptions due to its remoteness. Delays or shortages in transport can increase the price of food, especially fresh items with a shorter shelf life.
We don’t know where we would be without our branch partners, whose support means mean can deliver more fresh fruit and vegetables, our Everyday Food Essentials range and even nom! our nutrition education offering, where demand requires it.
Our Hunger Report for 2024 shows that in a state as fortunate as Western Australia, 370,000 households experienced food insecurity in the last 12 months with close to 200,000 households experiencing severe food insecurity in the same time frame with 1 in 5 people facing days of no food. That is not acceptable, and we must do better.
In Geraldton, Iluka’s support over the last three years has meant that we have been able to keep up with the growing demand the branch is seeing with both food assistance and nutrition education. Since July this year alone, we have seen an increase of almost 20% in households seeking food assistance.
A range of nutrition educations sessions have been delivered within the Greater Geraldton area with our nom! Schools and nom! programs thanks to Iluka, reaching more than 100 participants. These programs teach important life skills and how to eat healthy, gain confidence in the kitchen and make healthy food choices for life.
Iluka volunteer in our Perth branch, doing anything from helping out in the Community Kitchen preparing, cooking and freezing meals to packing hampers for distribution. Theres nothing they can’t do!
The 2023 Regional Price Index (RPI) results show that, overall, prices are more expensive than Perth in all regions, with prices highest in the Pilbara region, followed by the Kimberley and Gascoyne.
The results showed that our regional towns were more expensive in the majority of commodity groups measured such as food, clothing, housing, household equipment and operation and health and personal care, It’s no wonder that our regional towns need us more than ever.
When we venture South to our Bunbury Branch, the increase in households seeking food assistance in the same time period is very similar with a 19% spike. The cost-of-living crisis is impacting families so drastically that in Bunbury, to support those doing it the toughest, we provided 15,000 kilos of food for free during the month of October.
Thanks to our amazing Branch Sponsors South 32 who have partnered with us for three years now, we can meet the demand for food relief in Bunbury. We expanded our Mobile Foodbank to visit 15 communities in and around the Bunbury area. This means we can get more food to more people and lessen the burden for those who cannot afford the fuel to travel to the branch itself.
We are so thankful for regional branch partnerships. Without them we simply could not deliver enough food relief to meet growing demand around our state. Ongoing support means that we are building healthier, more resilient communities, and that they can count on us, nobody is going to be left behind.