You’d be hard pressed to find anyone unaffected by mounting cost of living pressures right now. Fuel prices are high. Rising interest rates are creating mortgage stress. A lack of housing supply is driving up rents. And trips to the supermarket see many people putting less in their trolley each week. The cost of living crunch hits hardest when people are forced to choose between paying their bills, buying medication and putting food on the table. It’s under stressful circumstances such as these that people find themselves visiting community-run organisations like Foodshare. Foodshare provides food relief to those who need it when they need it– it literally puts food on the table for families, young people and pensioners.

I was delighted to visit Corryong last week, one of Indi’s remote Upper Murray communities, to officially open the new, permanent home of Corryong FoodShare Services. Almost 100 people, from this community of 1300, attended the opening. It was clear to me the positive impact that Corryong FoodShare creates in this small community. Pastors Carol and Douglas Allen, and the large group of local volunteers, have worked hard to meet the demand for food relief and supports following the Black Summer Bushfires that devastated this region. Demand that continued during the border closures and lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand that is growing as cost of living pressures build.

Organisations like FoodShare are so important to regional communities across the country, now more than ever.