Wednesday, 8 June 2022

Shepparton Foodshare

Ms SHEED (Shepparton) (09:54): On Wednesday night I, along with many supporters from the community, attended the Shepparton Foodshare sixth annual Make a Meal of June fundraising dinner at the Woolshed. After two years of not being able to have this fundraising dinner, people were keen to get together and were very generous in contributing together with sponsors to the $75 000 raised to go towards the major building project of a permanent home for Shepparton Foodshare. This important project has been on the agenda for some time, and with a fantastic donation of the land in Mooroopna by the Andreadis family the plans are being drawn up in the hope that the project will be able to proceed soon. The federal government has contributed $600 000 towards the project, and I have been advocating strongly to the Victorian government to match that funding to enable building to commence.

Foodshare has operated in a large warehouse donated by the Geoff Thompson group, but as their business expands Foodshare’s tenure is limited. During the lockdown in Shepparton last year Foodshare played a critical role in receiving and distributing large donations of food relief, and the impacts on so many of the people have been widely spoken of when people were not able to go to work or school. Like so many organisations it is the volunteers who are the heart and soul. The volunteers will tell you that they love their work, that they know that the contribution they make is actually making a difference in people’s lives and that they enjoy the camaraderie of giving back to the community. I invite the minister to attend Shepparton Foodshare’s current site and hear about the plans for the new home.