Hope, heart and hot meals

Welcome to our Ballarat Community Food Centre, where people come in for much-needed groceries – and find so much more.

“It’s not easy to ask for help, but sometimes you’ve got to,” says Susan. She’s come to the Ballarat Community Food Centre to stock up on fresh and healthy food, for free. Susan loves to cook: soups, slow-cooked stews and apple pies. She grows some of her own food, herbs in pots. But as a pensioner and cancer survivor, she has little left after bills, medication and filling up her 28-year-old car.

“I just sometimes get to the car and I start crying because it’s so wonderful to get fresh fruit and vegetables that are so dear in the shops. It makes such a difference to me, to feel so welcomed and cared for,” she says.

It’s that sense of community and warmth that makes the CFC such a vital hub for the Ballarat area. And it’s here in droves today, as families, individuals and groups of friends arrive for a shop and a shared meal, referred to Foodbank by local schools or community organisations. Tuesday have always been busy. But now, with the fuel crisis putting even more pressure on household budgets, there’s even greater need, with more people reaching out for food relief for the first time.

“I’ve been coming every month,” says Fotini, who relies on Foodbank to help with food, so she can pay the bills. “There are more people [today]…that’s a bad thing, because more people are suffering. There are a lot more people struggling to put food on the table.”

Fotini has given her good friend Rebecca a lift here. After filling their trolleys with broccoli, capsicums, carrots, potatoes, peaches, pears, bananas, fresh milk, pantry essentials and cleaning products at the self-serve supermarket, they sit down together for lunch. Today, it’s a three-course meal cooked by Foodbank Vic chef Kirsty: cauliflower, potato and leek soup, followed by a choice of kangaroo casserole with peppercorn sauce, mash and broccoli or roast vegetable pasta bake. And to top it off, there’s chocolate cake or plum pancake with honey yoghurt for dessert. It’s like a hug on a plate.

“It was very nice, and you feel quite spoiled,” Rebecca says of the complimentary meal. “When you have no money, a little bit of kindness in this horrible world at the moment goes a long way.”

The recent cost-of-living price hikes have made it next to impossible for mum-of-two Rebecca to put food on her table. “It’s just unattainable. If you don’t have a job, if you’re on any sort of benefit, your money’s gone to rent, bills, and then you’ve got a small amount for food. You can’t feed your family like that,” she says. “It’s like every time you go to the supermarket you cringe and think, ‘Am I going to be able to make it through the week?’ Foodbank has just been amazing – it takes a lot of pressure off.”

The CFC dining room is also a place where people connect. Connie and Deb have just met today – now they’re sharing stories over barista-made coffee and hot chocolate. “Everybody knows the reason you’re here, and everybody’s in the same boat,” says Deb. “Everybody is just so lovely here.” And there is that mutual understanding of the struggle, the hardship that so many people are facing, with 76,000 Victorians accessing Foodbank’s support every day. It’s a number that is growing.

Over at another table, full-time carer Darren is enjoying lunch and some time out with his elderly father, and their neighbour and her son now that they’ve all done their monthly Foodbank grocery shop. “[This is] better than a restaurant to tell you the truth, because it’s like a home-cooked meal. We don’t normally go out and eat because we just can’t afford it,” he says. 

“I try to make a much as I can, prepare meals and stuff like that for Dad, not so much for myself. Sometimes I just don’t eat. When you’ve got bills and stuff like that you’ve got to pay, you’ve got to cut your food back. Foodbank helps a hellva lot. We wouldn’t survive without it.”

*Some names have been changed.  

Foodbank is now feeding a record number of Victorians each day. We’ve seen a 6% surge in people reaching out for help, many for the first time.


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