By NOEL MURPHY
GEELONG’S hunger games are growing so serious the city’s main food relief service is running short of food.
Even with greatly increased regular donations over recent months, Geelong Food Relief Centre still ran out of provisions last Saturday after assisting a record 110 families in just two hours.
With almost 1000 jobs at Aloca and Ford to disappear in the next few months, the North Geelong centre is hunkering down for an extra heavy assault on its resources over the coming months.
“I’m sure there’ll be more demand,” board member Ross Stephens told the Independent.
“Alcoa has been a tremendous supporter of the Geelong community for many, many years. Lots of wage donations from Alcoa employees to charities like Give Where You Live will cease.
“Alcoa, Ford and Shell et cetera seem to be the predominant donors. You’d assume the requirements of the centre will increase.
“We operate on vouchers from welfare organisations and they have to be able to finance those vouchers.”
The food bank redeems vouchers for people referred by charities such as Uniting Care and St Vincent de Paul. The majority of its food resources are donated but it buys particular goods to ensure healthy, balanced packages are available to recipients.
Charities are not billed for the vouchers until they are used.
The relief centre this year began running a free monthly service for health care card-holders over and above its normal voucher operations.
Mr Stephens said response had been a steady 80 to 90 families at each session.
But last Saturday brought an unusual flurry of clients, which exhausted the relief centre’s food supplies.
“The demand was the highest it’s been,” Mr Stephens said.
“This was due to two factors: greater need in the community and/or the monthly Saturdays are becoming better known.”
Manager Rod Gurney said charities were sending more people to the relief centre and giving out more food vouchers.
“I don’t think charities actually have enough funding for all the people they want to send,” he said.
Mr Gurney expected pressure on the centre to grow with the impending Ford and Alcoa sackings.
He also anticipated pressure from the cascading effect from related industries and services.
