Council supports food assistance program

Published on 15 February 2024

Gannawarra Shire Council has joined various organisations and community support providers in volunteering time to cook prepared meals for residents.

Mayor Ross Stanton joined Council Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Rollinson, Director Community Wellbeing, Paul Fernee and Coordinator Community Partnerships, Katrina Thorne to cook 70 meals that will be available for residents via Kerang Neighbourhood House’s Food Assistance Program.

Initiated in mid-2023, the program has resulted in local community groups and schools spending time in the kitchen at the Kerang Bowling Club to cook meals that will be frozen and available for residents who use the assistance program to collect from the house’s Scoresby Street headquarters.

“Kerang Neighbourhood House’s Food Assistance Program is a vital service for our residents, with the need for this program increasing in the past 12 months due to food prices, interest rate rises and natural disasters,” Mayor Stanton said.

The program has received widespread support, with Northern District Community Health, Victoria Police, Murray Mallee Local Learning and Employment Network, local schools and businesses previously dedicating time to cook meals.

Woolworths Kerang has been a strong supporter of the program with donations regularly provided to support the program, whilst Gannawarra Shire Council also provided $3,000 as part of its Community Grants program in 2023 to build capacity at the early stages of the program’s commencement.

For more information regarding the Food Assistance Program, phone (03) 4403 6640 or call into the Kerang Neighbourhood House, located at 11 Scoresby Street, Kerang.

ABOVE: Council Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Rollinson (left), Kerang Neighbourhood House Vice Chair, Oscar Aertssen, Mayor Ross Stanton, Director Community Wellbeing, Paul Fernee and Coordinator Community Partnerships, Katrina Thorne helped prepare meals for Kerang Neighbourhood House’s Food Assistance Program.