Food drive launched as one in three households skip meals to get by

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Skipped meals or entire days without food are becoming common in more and more South Australian households, a new report has shown.

A statewide food drive has been launched this week after Foodbank estimated that people in more than 170,000 SA households had been forced to skip multiple meals at some point in the past year, or even go a whole day without eating.

Single-parent households were at the greatest risk: almost 70 per cent experienced food insecurity and more than 40% had skipped meals for financial reasons.

So the RAA and Foodbank teamed up to do something about it.

Members of the public are invited to drop off non-perishable food items either at Foodbank’s Murray Bridge food hub or the RAA’s Bridge Street shop.

State Foodbank CEO Greg Pattinson said the need for donations was great.

“In the past year, demand for Foodbank SA’s services has increased by more than a third, as more families turn to us for support than ever before,” he said.

“Across SA and NT an average of 150,000 people are visiting us every month, and one third of those are children, which is heartbreaking.

“Despite our best efforts to meet growing demand, we estimate that we need an extra 5.3 million kilograms of food to meet demand across both South Australia and the Northern Territory.”

RAA spokeswoman Emily Perry said the organisation had felt a responsibility to do something about the problem, including by accepting donations and sponsoring Foodbank’s mobile food hubs.

“Everyone has seen the cost of living rise in recent years, and it’s concerning to see how many South Australian households are struggling to put food on the table as a result,” Ms Perry said.

“If you have the means to buy a few extra non-perishable items in your shop, they can be dropped off at either our RAA Shops or Mobile Food Hubs this week, to be distributed to South Australian families experiencing food insecurity.”

The food drive was timed to coincide with Anti Poverty Week, which runs from October 13-19 this year.

• Donate: Drop non-perishable food items at the Foodbank food hub at 209 Adelaide Road or the RAA shop at 19 Bridge Street, Murray Bridge; or make a cash donation at www.foodbank.org.au.
• More information: Download the Foodbank hunger report at reports.foodbank.org.au/foodbank-hunger-report-2024, or find out about Anti Poverty Week at antipovertyweek.org.au.