The Give Where You Live Foundation has today, Monday, 21 September 2021) released an additional $35,000 in emergency grants to seven organisations across the G21 region.
These seven organisations are operating on the frontline of the food insecurity challenge, consistently increasing within our region. All of the organisations have seen increased demand for their services due to the pandemic, which is heightened further by lockdowns.
The Foundation views this increase in demand as an emergency for these organisations and the people they serve.
After listening to the many calls for support from Community Partners, the Foundation decided to release $35,000 in emergency grants in addition to our yearly grants program.
Recently, the Foundation partnered with Deakin University’s Dr Fiona McKay to conduct research regarding the impact of the pandemic on food security within our region, resulting in the Food for Thought Report.
The Food for Thought report found that 71% of food relief agencies in the region reported an impact on food supply as a result of the pandemic, while 50% of these respondents reported they recently had trouble meeting the needs of all of their clients.
Who received grants?
These seven grants of $5,000 each have been distributed to Drysdale Family Support, Christ Church Community Meals, FeedMe Bellarine, Geelong Food Relief Centre, Wesley Welcome Place, Uniting and OneCare Geelong to assist these organisations in addressing the needs of their clients during this short lockdown.
These organisations work to ensure our community is resilient to food insecurity through their various programs ensuring appropriate and nutritional food is accessible to their clients.
The Foundation responding with help today
These emergency grants are a way in which the Foundation can quickly respond to the increased pressure being experienced by our Community Partners. Our purpose is to create a fairer community, and we are committed to assisting whenever we can. At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 we were fortunate enough to be able to release emergency grants to several frontline organisations. Given the current urgency and demand we are seeing in the community, we felt it important to reassign some of our resources to help further.
This pandemic has changed every aspect of our lives, and almost every aspect of the social sector has seen an increase in need. From people needing safe and secure places to spend lockdown, to people needing access to food as well as record-breaking numbers of people accessing mental health services. It is important that those organisations, such As Give Where You Live Foundation, who have a role in supporting the social sector, provide as much assistance as they are able.
When it comes to helping, there is no time like the present. As a Foundation, we place a lot of importance on the idea of preventing these issues and building a resilient community, but also we must be quick to react when emergency circumstances arise.