Foodbank Victoria has identified Knox in Melbourne's outer east as one of only two 'red zones' with the biggest food shortage in their eastern catchment, which stretches more than 500 kilometres from Hawthorn to Mallacoota.
Knox City Council has responded by establishing a warehouse facility for a new food relief distribution centre in Wantirna.
Knox Mayor, Cr Jude Dwight said Council had responded to surging community need for food and other emergency relief by providing access to a Council building for a 12-month trial.
"Outer East Foodshare will use the building to store and distribute Foodbank supplies to 30 local services in Knox who support residents in need," she said.
"This is part of Council's work supporting welfare agencies to provide much needed services in our community. As cost of living pressures are acutely felt in our community, Council is working hard to ensure our residents can access good quality, nutritious food."
There is an estimated shortage of 167,138 kilograms of food each year needed to support people experiencing food insecurity in Knox.
Outer East Foodshare Secretary Marilyn Lambert said the volunteer group collected rescued food, such as surplus products and 'ugly' farm produce.
"We'll have the ability to bring several more tonnes of rescued food into Knox and we will help the agencies who give out the food," she said.
"We'll save the agencies a lot of time and petrol money and enable a lot more food to be rescued and avoid it going to landfill.
"A growing number of people in genuine need are saying, 'By the time I've paid for my rent, electricity, fuel for my vehicle and school costs, there's not a lot left'. And so what gets scrimped is food."
Ms Lambert started volunteering with Outer East Foodshare 10 years ago after finding herself struggling with two teenage children.
"It's silly to waste perfectly good food so I thought, let's get involved with that to reduce landfill and help people in need, and I could really relate to that because many years ago I was going through a difficult family situation and I was one of those people," she said.
"I was struggling from week to week, teenage kids, and suddenly the water heater broke down. It meant I didn't have any spare money with Christmas coming up and I was thinking, oh gosh, it's going to be a lean Christmas, the kids won't be very happy."
The initiative is part of Council's ongoing work with food relief agencies in the outer eastern suburbs to overcome challenges in providing services for people in need. The warehouse will not be open directly to residents seeking support.
If you live in Knox and are in need of food and other emergency relief, visit knox.vic.gov.au/relief-providers
Photo: Marilyn Lambert at Outer East Foodshare's new Wantirna food distribution base.
