A regional Victorian community is rolling up its sleeves to help stop people skipping meals as the cost-of-living increases.
Staff from businesses and organisations throughout the Latrobe Valley are donating a day of their time to prepare up to 150 pre-packaged, home-cooked nutritious meals for those in need.
Matt Vincent traded his job as an accounts manager at a printing and business technology firm for a day of peeling carrots and packing meal containers.
"It was really good fun … getting into the kitchen and meeting some great people that are community-minded," he said.
Those taking part in the People's Kitchen project donate funds for food supplies, sourced from local producers, and volunteer for a day to prepare the meals for community group Morwell Neighbourhood House.
Kelly Hicks brought three of her staff from the Morwell Police Station along to peel vegetables and make apricot chicken balls.
"We're out in the community and we deal with a lot of families who use the neighbourhood house and food bank, so we wanted to help [manager] Tracie [Lund] refill her fridges and freezers," she said.
Acting Sergeant Hicks said anxiety about the cost of living was exacerbating poverty and disadvantage, and required intervention from the broader community by way of donations and volunteers.
Demand increases
Morwell Neighbourhood House manager Tracie Lund said demand for food support was rapidly rising due to higher fuel, food and utility costs.
"We are seeing a massive spike in people accessing [our services]," she said.
"The support we get from business and industry to do this program, [which] filters into our food bank, is really vital for us to be able to meet that growing need."
Ms Lund said people were skipping meals to pay their rent or mortgage, and increasing numbers were living out of their cars.
"I think we're at a crisis point and it's really scary," she said.
Shifting the dial
The Latrobe Health Assembly was set up after the region's Hazelwood mine fire, which burned for 45 days in 2014 to encourage residents to take preventative health measures such as eating a balanced diet.
The assembly's Ellen-Jane Browne said a new client base had emerged from the COVID era, essentially doubling the demand on the shire's food relief services within the space of 18 months.
"Things like the People's Kitchen are about creating an awareness of good, healthy food," Ms Browne said.
"We have high rates of obesity, heart disease and diabetes [in the Latrobe Valley], so if we can shift the dial be re-educating and providing alternatives to the sugary drinks and the fast food [it will improve people's health]," she said.
Ms Browne said a preference for fast, cheap, convenient comfort food over fresh fruit and vegetables and home-cooked, nutritious meals was of particular concern in the Latrobe Valley.
"If we can intervene … then the health outcomes of people improve," she said.
"They have less reliance on the health system and less chance of having chronic disease."
Give where you can
Ms Lund said she was encouraging people to think about how they could help as household budgets came under increased pressure over the colder months.
"Reach out to your local charities, find out what they might need," she said.
"You can always make financial donations. Put an extra bag of pasta or tin of soup in your shopping and share that.
"What might seem like the littlest thing can make a huge difference if everyone's doing a little bit to help."
