Yarraville-based Foodbank Victoria has joined Altona Gate Shopping Centre for its first public food drive.
Collection points will be placed throughout the Altona North centre as part of a campaign to help get food to people in need.
Foodbank’s Lindsey Ritchie described the rising demand as “astronomical”.
She said that in the past financial year there had been a 40 per cent increase in demand compared with 2012-13.
“The previous financial year we distributed 9.9 million meals across Victoria. Last financial year, it was up to 14.4 million meals – demand is growing.
“To be honest, there’s more need than we could ever fulfil.
“We’re seeing more people from working families, so it’s not necessarily the stereotypical single parent or homeless person any more – it’s now families that just have low incomes and can’t provide enough food for themselves.
“Predominantly, we get most of our food from manufacturers, but as that’s getting harder and harder we’ve moved to create food drives and Altona Gate has come on board as our first open public food drive place.”
Altona Gate has also created an edible garden for people to learn about sustainable living and ways they can contribute to Foodbank.
Anyone interested in donating can visit www.foodbankvictoria.org.au or phone 9362 8300.
Details of the Altona Gate project: www.tinyurl.com/pssjoew
