GUEST SPEAKER - DEDY FRIEBE

 

Richard Hawker introduced Dedy Friebe who provided a snapshot of the service provided by the local Warrnambool and District Food Share project which is now in its third year of operation and growing to meet local needs. Dedy explained that there are 92 service organisations registered with food share - they range from non-Government organisations to hospitals, churches, mental health agencies, Emma House, DHHS and schools and kinders.

Hampers
Food Hampers are made up daily (an average of 18 hampers per day). So far this year 2336 hampers have been made up which averages out to 400 hampers per month.   Each hamper is around three boxes of food, and some 530 plus boxes are used per week. 
In 2014 a total of 2700 hampers were distributed.
In 2015 this figure grew to 3389 hampers.
And so far this year- with three months to go - the figures is up 30% with 2804 hampers given out to date in 2016.
  • Over 7,200 people have received hampers so for in 2016 (an increase of + 33%)
  • An average of 56 people per day (1000 per month) and some 173 families per month for far this year 1389 families have received hampers (and increase of + 34%)
  • 534 groups have accessed our food (schools, church groups, soup kitchens, before and after school programs etc)
  • HALF THE HAMPER RECIPIENTS ARE CHILDREN who need feeding.
  • Food Share has 94 registered agencies averaging 60 agencies per month who use Food Share.
  • The top three agencies accessing help from Food Share are Hamilton Uniting Church (bulk food), St Vincent De Paul and Brophy Family Services.
  • In 2014 Food Share helped 6500 people
  • In 2015 Food Share helped 8831 people
  • In 2016 Food Share has a + 33% increase and has helped 7,200 thus far.
Total Amounts of Food Distributed
  • Over 102,000 kgs of food was distributed in 2014
  • 111,509 kgs of food was distributed in 2015 (an increase of 9%)
  • So far in 2016, 88,300kgs (+ 20%) or 13 tonnes of food per month which equals 500kg per day has been distributed.
Destinations for the food regularly include Warrnambool, Allansford, Camperdown, Cobden, Derrinallum, Hamilton, Heywood, Koroit, Mortlake, Penshurst, Port Fairy, Portland, Purnim and Terang.
 
Food rescued
  • Food is collected daily from all the supermarkets around town and Aldi is the most generous of all the supermarkets.  In 2015 over 62,700 kgs of food was donated by our 9 supermarkets.
  • 56 Tonnes of food rescued or donated so far this year.
  • 38 Tonnes from Foodbank - Foodbank in Melbourne provides about 66,000 kgs of food to Food Share per year.
Farm Food
  • Nothing is wasted. Food which is not used in hampers goes out to farmers as animal fodder.
  • About 20000kg of food is directed to pig and chook farmers per year (up to 2 tonnes per month)
Volunteer Service
Food Share relies heavily on its Volunteer work force who contribute over 3,500 hours of service each year (300 hours per month).
 
Donations
Dedy explained that Food Share welcomes donations of fresh food - lemons, seasonal fresh fruit of any type, adding that eggs are gold to them!
 
Richard Hawker thanked Dedy for the wonderfully informative presentation and Judy Ross presented Dedy with a cheque for $1,600.