This expansion allows us to provide a more diverse and inclusive product range that reflects the cultural, dietary, and nutritional needs of our community. We’re focusing on allergen-friendly options and culturally relevant staples to ensure we can support everyone who turns to us for help.

Our customer shopping experience is heavily reliant on very generous donations from producers, farmers and manufacturers. Recognising that some level of consistency for shelf stable items was important for our customers, we have wanted to expand out range of essential products for a long time, however the right level of funding was difficult to secure.

We are thrilled that we can now expand our range of essential products to ensure a constant supply of these items for our customers no matter what day of the week it is. Just some of the products already added includes oats, black tea, lactose-free UHT full cream milk, hygiene products, dishwashing liquid and laundry powder.

We can’t wait to see the rest of the range rolled out in July, thank you VGW Holdings, watch this space.

The wonderful people at Packaging R Us enabled us to purchase a heavily discounted Vacuum Seal machine which has made a huge impact on the meals we can offer. Vacuum-sealed meals offer a convenient way to store and preserve food, extending shelf life and maintaining quality.

One of the biggest advantages is extended shelf life – by removing air and sealing food in airtight packaging, vacuum sealing keeps food fresher for longer – both in the fridge and freezer. Our meals now have a 3-week shelf-life.

This method also preserves the flavour, texture, and nutritional value of meals. With no exposure to oxygen, food maintains its original taste and doesn’t suffer from freezer burn or spoilage.

Our pre-prepared meals are distributed through our six branches in Perth, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Peel, Bunbury and Albany. They can be obtained in the branches or are made available from our charity partners which range from supporting the elderly who need easy no fuss meals to domestic violence survivors who may need a meal in the middle of the night quickly or someone going through serious illness who does not have the energy to cook. The list is endless.

We are so pleased that our new vacuum sealing machine allows us to include a wider variety of produce in our pre-prepared meals making them more delicious and nutritious for our customers.

Anyone for satay tonight? Check out our recipe of the month. 

A shocking 89% of customers surveyed said that the reason they didn’t have enough food was because they had to prioritise other more important things they had to pay for such as rent, bills and medicine. 87% agreed food was far too expensive to purchase at regular supermarkets. 

The survey also revealed that 71% of participants use Foodbank as their first choice for grocery shopping, with 85% accessing our services for protein (59%), grocery (87%) and fruit and vegetables (85%). We were grateful to see that many customers expressed their gratitude for our services and the positive impact it has had on their lives with staff described as helpful, welcoming and respectful. 

We often hear about people skipping meals to feed their children or even their pets – just over half of the customers who responded to the survey backed up this claim. They said that they were hungry but didn’t eat because they didn’t have enough money for food, almost 80% said they had to cut the size of their meal or skip it altogether, almost half were worried about their food running out  before they could afford to buy more, while 34% admitted to losing weight because of a lack of money to buy food. 

The survey also enabled us to gather some very valuable information about what our customers would like to see improved or more of, and thanks to generous funding, we have already been able to get the ball rolling on serval initiatives to improve the overall customer experience. This includes a state-wide project to carry more culturally diverse and dietary-specific foods, including vegetarian and gluten-free options and wanting more budget-friendly meats and essential household items. 

Calls for better signage have been addressed at all of our branches, and we are working on a more diverse product selection and product availability through our Everyday Food Essential expansion project which is scheduled for roll-out in July. 

The survey responses showed clearly how the cost-of-living crisis has impacted households of varying demographics, those renting (56%), homeowners (37%) and a huge 71% of people who indicated that they lived with other people such as family or housemates to help make end meet. 

The food and grocery budget is usually the first thing most people cut leading to a fast-growing problem of food insecurity. It can affect anyone and could be the next-door neighbour, a family member or a friend and it is not necessarily obvious. It is an issue that remains hidden due to the stigma attached to reaching out for help.

We encourage people to come to us before their circumstances dictate that they are in trouble of losing the roof over their heads or that they have to turn their electricity off or not change the tyres on their car. We not only offer very affordable and nutritious food for families that are on a shoestring budget. By shopping with us, a small part of an already stretched budget can make all the difference.  

Launched in 2020 as an urgent public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ERFAS was designed to be a simple, centralised access point to emergency and food relief services. The service has evolved into a long-term, sustainable model that now supports thousands of people every year. Since the service launch, more than 140,000 calls for help have been answered.

Central to ERFAS’s strength is its collaborative approach as it works under the umbrella of the Financial Wellbeing Collective – a partnership of 12 community service providers committed to addressing the drivers and impacts of financial hardship in Western Australia.  Anglicare WA has a team of dedicated assessors working to deliver the ERFAS service, with partners Communicare, Mission Australia, The Spiers Centre and Uniting WA all working closely alongside to deliver emergency relief. These efforts are amplified by partnering with further external organisations such as Foodbank, Starting Over Support, St Patrick’s Community Support Centre, Vinnies WA, and The Salvation Army WA, which ensures clients receive seamless, statewide support.

Due to the big increase in the demand for ERFAS services, a referrals assessor from the Financial Wellbeing Collective has been established at the Foodbank Perth Airport branch to assist customers with their needs onsite, five days a week for just over a year.

Having a dedicated Financial Support Worker onsite to assist customers has been invaluable. The month of May saw the ERFAS phone line receive almost 3,000 calls from individuals seeking various types of assistance, with the primary reason for reaching out being cost of living pressures. Almost 800 referrals were issued for Foodbank, with requests for food relief climbing to the highest point to date this year.

Being a part of Financial Wellbeing Collective allows ERFAS to be a part of a wrap-around service that, for our customers, relieves the burden of food costs meaning individuals can redirect their limited financial resources toward other critical areas, such as healthcare, paying rent or paying utility bills.

We are so grateful for this collaboration which makes reaching out for help so much easier for those seeking emergency assistance. You can watch Anglicare’s video celebrating their 5 years and work with us here.

Our evening started with a meaningful Acknowledgement to Country from Guilford Grammar School students with Kerri Buurman, our MC extraordinaire and Foodbank Ambassador, keeping the evening flowing beautifully.

Our guests, including is His Excellency the Hon Chris Dawson AC APM – Governor of Western Australia – who is our Patron – were treated to an incredible Thank You card display created by Year 8 students from St George’s Anglican Grammar School and a live painting and sketching session from some Guilford Grammar School students. 

Some of our very special partners got involved on the night itself, we were lucky to have Craig Mostyn Group generously sponsor a showcase of their beef, lamb, pork, and sausages for the evening. This year alone The Craig Mostyn Group through their Linley Valley Pork and V&V Walsh businesses have donated nearly 11,200 kg of product to us. The wonderful people at Costa Group also lent their support with fresh mushrooms.

Events like these are a wonderful occasion to recognise that the Foodbank network is like a big family where people from all backgrounds, professions and experiences come together and acknowledge the great role we all play in helping people who are facing hardship. Thank You to everyone who has, and continues to support us, we couldn’t do it without you.  

Eventually, things reached a breaking point. After experiencing a drug-induced psychosis, Isaac lost touch with reality which resulted in a horrific car accident – one that could have claimed multiple lives. Miraculously, no one else was injured. For Isaac, it was a rock-bottom moment. Something had to change. For himself. For his four children. 

With the support of his sister and her family, Isaac entered a long-term residential rehabilitation program. He also made the difficult but necessary decision to leave an abusive relationship. Just days into the program, he received a devastating call – his children’s mother had attempted to take her own life and abandoned their youngest child at a set of traffic lights. The children were taken into care and separated under a time-limited order.

Isaac was faced with an impossible choice. Still early in his recovery, he knew he couldn’t care for his children until he could care for himself. He chose to stay in rehab – knowing that the long-term outcome for his children depended on him truly getting better.

It wasn’t easy. The children endured distressing experiences in care, including exposure to violence, trauma, and neglect. But Isaac used that pain as fuel for his recovery. He threw himself into the program, committed to doing everything necessary to rebuild his life. He worked through parenting programs, therapy, regular drug testing, and personal development – not just to satisfy requirements, but because he wanted to be the best version of himself. 

Proving he had changed wasn’t simple. Bias and bureaucracy stood in the way, and the constant turnover of case managers made progress feel painfully slow. But Isaac stayed the course. He held on, even when the system made him feel invisible.

Throughout his journey, Isaac discovered Foodbank. What began as a visit to get food became something much more – a source of hope, stability, and support. He’s been visiting Foodbank Peel for years and credits the team, particularly Megan and Steve, with helping him stay afloat. With most of his income going toward rent, the food relief allows him to care for his family with dignity.

Although he stepped away from his career as a chef to care for his children, Isaac is now eager to return to work in logistics or the cheffing world, both fields he knows well. The employment gap on his résumé poses a challenge, but he remains optimistic. He’s ready to be part of a team again. Ready to contribute.

With complete positivity and contagious enthusiasm Isaac is looking forward to a bright future, “My children now have a stable loving home and are healthy. I have an amazing, caring new partner. Life is actually pretty grand. The future is looking awesome.”

What stands out most about Isaac isn’t just how far he’s come – but how deeply he believes in the possibility of change. He wants others who are struggling to know that they are not alone. That the road may be hard, but there is a way forward.

“You’ve got to put in the work,” he says. “Stay on the path, no matter how rough it gets. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help. It might just change your life.” 

Here at the Centre for Hunger Relief, our Community Kitchen has been just that for Chef Grant Longman who has been at the helm for 10 years and together with an army of volunteers has helped to produce more than half a million meals since its inception in April 2015. Many happy and fun memories have been made here for the thousands of individual and corporate volunteers who have walked through the Community Kitchen Doors since they opened. 

Whether strengthening bonds during corporate challenges, or simply like-minded individuals wanting to make a little bit of a difference, our Community Kitchen has been a hive of activity each and every day with volunteers prepping, chopping, cooking and packaging meals that were made primarily from ingredients that were saved from landfill and donated.

Each Monday was like the ultimate Mystery Box challenge, or in his case, mystery pallet for Chef Grant who would have an array of commercial quantity ingredients from which he would create a healthy and nutritious meal. Sometimes this would mean that a lasagne would have a Mexican twist – with beans – or that his mushroom sauce was made from gourmet quality exotic mushrooms – not your standard white cup mushrooms – because that’s what was donated. From pizzas, to curry, various pasta dishes, soups, and even Patagonian toothfish – Chef Grant has cooked it all over the past 10 years.

In the space of only a few weeks, we have seen Ang pop up all over the state. From Geraldton where she was looking to make connections with some new growers, then down to Harvey for the Harvey Agricultural Society Show and so many places in-between.

Starting with Harvey – it was a wonderful opportunity to thank local donors, and to help promote our Mobile Foodbank service in the area. We were super lucky, the wonderful people at the Harvey Agricultural Show offered us a free-of-charge booth for the second year running. 

Ang, Jarrad and Michael continued to spread the love, travelling South to visit some of our Top 10 produce suppliers. It’s the first time they have all been on the road together to visit our suppliers to thank them in person and provide them with our new farm gate signage and certificates to show how much they donated over the last 12 months. Everyone was thrilled.

Thanks to Mineral Resources, Ang has a new Ute to ensure all visits out to the regions are safe and will make driving onto farms much easier in the future. Vinyl Wrapz in Osborne Park did the wrap for the Ute, making sure Ang will never go unnoticed on her long drives.

The Ute will enable Ang to do some of the produce collections herself too and be able to drop bins, pallets and crates off for donations to those farms we do not collect from – and it is also great advertising for us, you won’t be able to miss Ang out on the road.