Last week we made four additional food relief grants targeting CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) communities in lockdown. We know that COVID-19 has seen a huge rise in people seeking support, in particular food, to enable them to try to pay bills and stay housed.
Foodbanks across Australia are handing out as many hampers in one day, as they normally do in a week. Certain groups of people are continuing to be badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular those in vulnerable industries such as events, hospitality, tourism, education, arts and retail who have lost jobs or hours of work. Many are from a CALD background who are struggling to meet rental payments, pay bills and make ends meet.
This is an example of many people’s circumstance from Community Care Kitchen:
“As lockdown continues more heartbreak for families already living below the poverty line. A desperate mother of 3 has called through on her last legs. Her husband has been battling heart disease for years and has recently gotten worse. She receives little help from Centerlink and after her rent is paid they’re left with the bare minimum. Before COVID she was able to find small cleaning jobs to get them by, but as lockdown continues her and her kids have had to live in conditions that no one in our community should be in. Sometimes the kids only have 1 meal a day, they don’t have a laptop for home schooling and it took all her courage to reach out to us. Lets show this small family we are here for them in this hard time.”
| September Food Relief Grants | ||
| Halal Food Bank Melbourne | VIC | $ 5,000.00 |
| Greater Shepparton Foundation FoodLink | VIC | $ 5,000.00 |
| Addison Road Community Centre | NSW | $ 5,000.00 |
| Community Care Kitchen | NSW | $ 5,000.00 |
Halal Food Bank
“This grant came in at a time when our funds were depleting faster than our fundraising. These funds have allowed us to purchase supplies for 200 food parcels for those in need of food relief in our community, allowing us to continue to provide for the western and northern suburb hot spots. Halal Food Bank Melbourne is run entirely by volunteers and purely with donations.” Sharfi Ruknudeen, Chair/Acting Treasurer.
Community Care Kitchen
“We greatly appreciate this grant, the team and I can’t express in words how much this support means to us as a community group. From the bottom of all ours hearts, thank you for the opportunity and thank you for helping us help our community best.” Sana Karanouh, President.
Greater Shepparton Foundation FoodLink
“These organisations look after, and respond to the needs of, some very marginalised groups who are in distress over accessing culturally appropriate food at the moment. Language has been a huge barrier in some of these families reaching out for help over the past couple of weeks. Staples are in more demand at the moment than cooked meals. Thank you so much for your generosity.”
Additional information on the organisations supported:
