Crisis averted but Foodbank Bunbury stock is low

Concerns that people across the South West will be left hungry because of dwindling stock levels at Foodbank Bunbury have been allayed, but supplies are desperately needed.

The charity had less than a week’s worth of food left on its shelves in the last days of May and manager Carol Hearn expected to run out during the first week of June, however, supplies from Foodbank in Perth tided the organisation over.

Mrs Hearn said that despite the reprieve, the food bank, which served 56,000 meals last month, was still stretched to its limits.

She said the stock levels were the lowest she had seen in her three-and-a-half years working for the charity.

“We need staple foods – things that are good for you, ” Mrs Hearn said.

She said she expected fresh supplies of citrus fruit and pumpkins in the coming days, but would have to take the dry food stocks “everyday as it came”.

Worsley Alumina recently donated a new chest freezer to the food bank, but Mrs Hearn said she now needed the food to fill it.

“Our freezers aren’t looking good, ” she said.

Bunbury Foodbank supplies people across the South West and there has been a rise in demand after redundancies in the region.

Mrs Hearn said a greater variety of people were using the service.

“We’ve been getting a lot of homeless, elderly and sick people coming in, ” she said.