Goya Dmytryshchak
Five neighbourhood houses across Maribyrnong and Brimbank have launched the ’Nourish’ pilot project, distributing free meals to combat food insecurity.
Yarraville Community Centre, West Footscray Neighbourhood House, Braybrook and Maidstone Neighbourhood House, Angliss Neighbourhood House and Duke Street Community House have joined forces for the project.
Together, they are rescuing surplus food and providing free, nutritious vegetarian meals for people doing it tough.
Meals are prepared by qualified staff in the Yarraville Community Centre kitchen and distributed by the other houses.
Yarraville Community Centre executive officer Christine McCall said the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted everyone and people struggling to make ends meet had been hit hardest.
“Every Saturday, we’ve got two or three volunteers and two qualified people cooking, and they cook and snap-freeze the meals,“ she said.
“Then we distribute them. We’ve been dropping off food to people’s places as well, and people have been coming in and picking it up.
“West Footscray and Duke Street do food boxes, and so does Braybrook Maidstone, so any of the food that’s left over comes back in for us to cook.
“We’re also getting freshly picked vegetables from one of the farms down in Werribee South.
“We’re basically saving food from being thrown out and cooking it.“
Pick up points, to be expanded, are Yarraville Community Centre’s two sites: 9 Victoria Street, Footscray, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 2pm-3pm; and 78 Summerhill Road, West Footscray, on Thursdays and Fridays from 2pm-3.30pm.
Meals are also distributed from Duke Street Community House in Sunshine as part of its food relief program, and Co-Health is picking up meals for some of its clients.
