By Margaret Maccoll
The need for food has increased 30 to 50 per cent on the Sunshine Coast as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic at the same time supplies have declined by a third, according to food rescue group OzHarvest.
OzHarvest Sunshine Coast coordinator Michele Lipner said many people who were not historically food insecure were now in need of food.
“There were people who had lost their jobs,” she said.
“Migrants and international students who were left without any support.”
Employees working in hospitality and tourism who lost their jobs prioritised paying their bills with little left for food. People who became isolated in their homes, in residential units and some with a disability who were unable to go out and shop also needed food, Michele said.
OzHarvest used to collect up to 10,000kg of food a month from suppliers before Covid but that has reduced to about 6,000kg a month.
Each week the charity collects fresh fruit and vegetables from supermarkets, traders at Noosa Farmers Market as well as receiving local donations.
Michele attributes the drop in donations to a slowing of the supply chain, a tightening of belts and less wastage of food.
In an unprecedented move the non-profit organisation has obtained government funding to purchase food.
“We’ve provided food relief not food rescue,” Michele said.
The organisation provides food to more than 30 organisations including schools, community groups, churches, youth groups and charities including Urban Angels Community Kitchen Program.
Michele said their purchasing power enabled them to better target the food they bought to the needs of the community.
She doesn’t see the immediate need slowing down any time soon and expects it to increase when government Covid-support payments cease in September.
Each week OzHarvest has been supplying 250kg fruit and vegetables to Urban Angels Community Kitchen Program which combines it with some protein to create 1000 meals.
Urban Angels, an Integrated Family and Youth Service program, cooks and freezes nutritious meals that are delivered by volunteers and organisations across the Sunshine Coast.
Study Sunshine Coast, The Dementia Alliance, Mens Sheds and Noosa Council have collected meals from Urban Angels to deliver to people in need in the community.
Urban Angels spokeswoman Birgit said with Covid the need for their meals had been much greater.
“We’ve gone from cooking a few hundred meals a week to cooking 500 to 600 a day,” she said.
Migrants, unemployed elderly and people with disability have received their meals during the Covid crisis.
“There were so many stories of job losses and people on the slippery slope to poverty,” she said.
Birgit said many older residents who are reliant on local restaurants for takeaway were without food when restaurants closed.
“It’s remarkable how many people have fallen through the cracks along the way,” she said.
“There’s been times when volunteers have delivered meals and residents have just broken down and cried.”
