Ian Fairnie, who was club champion for our guest speaker Arnya, spoke at the conclusion of her talk about Foodbank WA by taking us back to Foodbank’s humble beginnings - in a garage in an empty house along Great Eastern Highway. Foodbank soon needed bigger premises and moved to a warehouse in Welshpool. But the demand for healthy food, financial help and dietary advice grew so they re-located again to their present huge premises at the airport.
Arnya Tait works in the partnership engagement team and manages events at Foodbank WA. Foodbank’s vital role is to feed, educate and advocate for Western Australians doing it tough.
She delivered a really stirring talk about Foodbank’s role in providing healthy food to all as a basic human right.
Foodbank is funded through a combination of government support, corporate partnerships, community donations, and food industry contributions. Foodbank engages with 460 agencies including Centrelink and churches. Last year Foodbank provided $9.2 million in relief, with 60 mobile services delivering essential food supplies.
Mobile deliveries from Foodbank with food and healthy living programs extend services to 44 regional and remote locations across the state. These include towns in the Wheatbelt, Goldfields, Pilbara, and Kimberley regions.
Arnya said one of Foodbank’s main aims is to tell people that it’s OK to reach out and ask for help.
Nowadays, poverty can take the form of a single income household, which after paying rent and coping with the rising cost of living, leaves $8 to $10 a day to buy nourishing food.
To shop with Foodbank all people need to do is obtain a referral by ringing Centrelink or one of 460 agencies who work with Foodbank explaining they are going through food insecurity. This will enable them to shop at Foodbank for six months, then their situation is reviewed according to their circumstances.
Nine out of 10 people who are referred to Foodbank not only have financial problems but a host of other issues happening at home and work.
Foodbank wants to help these people get back on their feet by allowing them to shop for nutritious foods for a small fee of $1.50 per box, which is a token small handling fee to allow people their dignity.
If an agency like Foodbank doesn’t help people at this stage, the next step is homelessness, and that is something everyone wants to avoid.
Poverty and food insecurity go hand in hand and has no postcode. Arnya talked about single mums on a pension, women over 50 living on the street and international students who don’t have enough money left over for good food as being of particular concern. The students may turn to the sex trade to make ends meet.
There are grandparents who have taken on their three grandchildren from a parent who can’t cope and suddenly, don’t have enough food to feed five. More families nowadays are co-habitating due to the cost of rents and mortgages and the food budget is stretched.
Every morning at Foodbank the queue at the roller door starts forming at 7am, especially when people hear of good quality fruit and vegetables. If they like, they can buy chef prepared ready-made meals for $3.50.
Dieticians are available to consult at Foodbank and also financial managers, who can help with food budgets. Foodbank has an excellent website which offers economical but healthy recipes.
When Ian thanked Arnya for her presentation, he also told us that when Foodbank wanted to introduce breakfasts for children at school, there was an outcry from people who couldn’t believe children were going to school without breakfast.
But the program was very successful, with one school reporting that there had been a 90 per cent drop of children having to report to the deputy principal for misbehaviour.
Arnya presented a thank you certificate to PP George Mavros and his fellow residents at the Riverside Salter Point Residential Village for their significant donation of containers since the Containers For Change program started in October 2020. This was recognised by the Club donating the amount of $5000 received from the container refund to Foodbank. George made mention of the work done by Ray Philp, picking the container bins up in the Club’s trailer and delivering them to the Scouts WA Recycling Centre. This supports their social enterprise providing youth development and leadership through Scouting. Ray told us in the time the club has been recycling cans and bottles we have saved 53,409 cans from landfill.
President Margaret also accepted an appreciation certificate on behalf of the club for a donation of $5000 to Foodbank from Arnya.
