Newsletter for the Rotary Club of Greater Geraldton - Issue No.: 780 Issue Date: 15 Apr, 2024

Our Guest Speaker today was Michelle Loriso, a former club and board member of our club. Michelle was introduced by Dan with a rather suspect bio presented by Tony! We suspect the two kids to be the only genuine part!

Truthfully, Michelle has been in Geraldton 15 years and has two adult daughters and she is currently the relief branch manager for Food Bank. 

Past jobs include real estate sales rep and customer service supervisor for QantasLink

She enjoys fishing and is still waiting to catch a big fish, but it keeps getting away!

FOODBANK:

For more than 10 years, Foodbank Geraldton has been providing support to disadvantaged families in the Mid-West. It’s range extends to Carnarvon, Mt Magnet and Moora. Currently the busiest regional branch, Foodbank Geraldton supplies almost 80,000 meals each month.

Food is obtained by donation for purchase by the disadvantaged at very low prices. People must be assessed by external agencies, eg Mission Australia, to determine their eligibility.

From humble beginnings, Foodbank has grown enormously to become the largest hunger relief organisation in Australia. Last year alone, we provided enough food for over 60 million meals.

We have been fighting hunger in Western Australia since 1994. Today we source and distribute enough food to provide 5.7 million meals to food to over 500 agencies.

The Foodbank School Breakfast Program provides an additional 2.2 million serves of breakfast to over 430 schools throughout the state and we are also the largest provider of nutrition education and healthy eating programs.

Foodbank is a conduit between the food industry’s surplus food and the welfare sector’s need to ensure all West Australian’s have enough food to eat.

Foodbank also provides relief packs to the homeless, as well as packages to the Grandmothers of Mullewa caring for children, and support the school breakfast program in Geraldton as well.

In Geraldton we have 32 volunteers and four paid staff. Often “Work for the Dole” people help out. A nutritionist is also available with cooking classes to teach people how to prepare healthy food.

The challenge for Foodbank is actually obtaining the food, particularly at lean times around EOFY. DG Lindsay mentioned a Perth project “Cans for Christmas” a concept which could be used in Geraldton.

There was to have been a U-Tube video presented called “Karen’s Story” but out tech gurus failed AGAIN! This can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxubN3qYrFI

July 11, 2017

Foodbank has joined forces with Woolworths in Western Australia to provide shoppers with an easy way to donate to help feed local children in need this winter.

CEO Greg Hebble said “Of the 53,000 people that turn to us for a meal each month, 22,000 are children.  The downturn in the economy means that the situation is worsening and more people than ever before are turning to our charity partners for a meal – many for the first time”.

“We can no longer rely on donated food alone to meet the need, so we are pleased to be partnering with Woolworths again this year to provide the community with an easy way to show their support for those less fortunate.”

“Our annual Woolworths Winter Appeal has received fantastic support from the public over the years and it really helps us keep up with the demand during one of our busiest times of the year”.

From Friday 7 July – 28 July customers can scan a virtual can at any Woolworths checkout for $2 to provide 4 children a meal. A canned food collection is also happening in Albany, Bunbury, Geraldton,  Kalgoorlie and Peel stores to help the regional branches stock their shelves.

“While it may seem like a small gesture, it could be the difference between someone eating or going hungry,” Mr Hebble said.

Foodbank’s national Shop and Share campaign is also running across all Woolworths stores throughout July. Every time customers purchase a specially marked product, participating brands will provide a donation to Foodbank. Shop & Share is targeting 1 million meals this year.