Baw Baw Food Relief

For more than 18 years, Baw Baw Food Relief has been providing much-needed emergency food assistance to members of the community who are experiencing hardship.

Each weekday, Baw Baw Shire residents requiring urgent help can access food relief, between 10am – 2pm. Through this program, more than three tonnes of food are distributed weekly to those in need.

Coordinator, Jan Davidson, said the centre is currently assisting more than 950 families – a 12% increase from last year.

An on-site op shop operates Monday to Saturday, and it recently expanded into the adjacent factory space. The move allows additional donations to be collected, stored and sold, with funds going to the organisation’s food relief operations.

It would be nice if there were no longer a need for emergency food services, however, the trend is that the need keeps growing. We will continue to support and feed the need of individuals in crisis to large scale emergency efforts.

As Victoria battles the current bushfire crisis, Baw Baw Food Relief is contributing to emergency food relief efforts by collecting donations of non-perishable food and water.

“We collected 23 tonnes of food donations, which are being distributed through Foodbank to ensure it reaches fire-affected families in need,” said Jan.

Baw Baw Food Relief is all too familiar with responding to bushfire emergencies. In March 2019, the organisation was enacted to respond to the Bunyip fires that tore through the region.

Within a few days, plans were put into place, we set up tables at the Bunyip Recovery Centre and stayed for two weeks giving out food to many people affected by the fires. In that time, we gave out nine tonnes of food, mainly donated by the wonderful people and businesses in the Baw Baw Shire.

For demonstrating hard work and resilience during this time, Baw Baw Food Relief received the Community Event of the Year award at the 2020 Baw Baw Shire Australia Day ceremony.

Find out more about Baw Baw Food Relief here.