There’s free fruit, vegetables and bread and the shelves are stocked with groceries at Lismore Food Pantry. The local service which provides food at a low cost to people on Centrelink benefits has now reopened after months of closure months due to Covid restrictions.

Every Tuesday, when the Pantry’s food delivery truck arrives loaded up with goodies, it’s up to volunteer coordinators Brian and Diane Perry to make sure the groceries get stacked onto shelves and trestle tables, creating a pop-up mini mart for members to come to once a week.

Brian Perry.

The Food Pantry operates out the back of the Red Dove Café on Keen Street from 9.30am to 12pm every Thursday. It’s one of 500 similar organisations in NSW and was started by the local Uniting Church as part of its the outreach into the Lismore community.

Brian and Diane have been involved since its inception eight years ago.

Brian said some produce is donated by local producers, with most of the Food Pantry grocery items purchased at a low price from Food Bank NSW.

“Food is donated to the Food Bank by major retailers like Aldi, Coles, Woolworths and Sanitarium under a donor agreement,” Brian said.

“We then pass the groceries on to Lismore and the wider community at a very low cost to help the disadvantaged and families in need.

“Most of our members are holders of Centrelink and when they join up to the Food Pantry, they get a membership number and card. When they arrive, they get a shopping list and can purchase cheap groceries – at least half the price of the supermarkets.

“We put a small mark up on goods to cover costs - we are not allowed to make huge profits and we want to pass the benefits onto the disadvantaged.

“We also accept St Vincent De Paul food vouchers as payment.”

So how does the Food Pantry work?

Many of the grocery items donated to Food Bank have a ‘best before’ date that is nearly expired, or within one month past that date. Brian said he doesn’t keep packaged or canned goods that are more than a month past this date.

“I also collect off Aldi every Tuesday,” Brian said. “That’s when I get the frozen or chilled meat that Aldi freezes before the ‘best before’ date has expired.

“The bread from Food Bank is also not yet out of date and I tell people to freeze it when they get it home to keep it fresh.

“Sometimes donated products may just have incorrect labelling, or an expired promotion on the label – and some have use-by dates that are next year.

“Someone at Clunes recently donated custard apples and limes – We are always looking for donations and sourcing things.”

What can you get?

Brian said the pantry groceries change every week, depending on what has arrived. There’s an assortment of items, from cereal, cow and soy milk, noodles, conditioner, shampoo, toothpaste, pet food, soups, pasta sauce, spreads, jams, muesli bars, sweets, Darrel Lea chocolates, puddings, tea and coffee.

“Most people spend about $10-30 when they come and get up to $80 worth of groceries – it’s good value,” he said.

“We don’t put individual piece on every line. If someone only has $10, that’s ok.”

Brian said a large box of Weetbix cereal only costs $1.35 and a jar of leggos pasta sauce costs $1.46.

Schools

Brian said the Food pantry also supplies some local schools like Kadina and Richmond River High Schools with breakfast items for the kids like fruit, bread, muesli bars, fruit cups and juices.

“I also order for our welfare agency upstairs,” he said. “We have people come in every day looking for food items.”

Volunteers and demand

Brian said since the Lismore Food pantry started, demand for the service grew across the region, and now, there are similar facilities in Mullumbimby, Byron, Casino, Kyogle and Evans Head.

“When the Food pantry closed down in March, people were upset because they couldn’t afford to go to supermarkets,” he said.

“We do things cheaper than a lot of the others. We have no overheads like electricity – that’s absorbed by the church we are part of here.”

Who comes?

Brian said the Food Pantry had regular customers, but a lot of the people who come are single mums, pensioners and people out of work.

“They come here because it gets them over hump,” he said. “A lot of people who come in are in dire straits. They are sometimes embarrassed about coming in, but they are ok once they get here.

“We might get a single mum whose car has blown up and she needs to spend her money on it – so shopping here will keep food in their pantry for the second week of the fortnight.

“We are here to help and that’s the main thing.

“We’d like to open it up to the general public, but we’d never keep up with demand and the costs would go through the roof.”