Southern Port’s $29,000 partnership with Foodbank delivers 25,000 meals across Albany, Bunbury and Esperance

Foodbank’s biggest partnership with Southern Ports, whereby the charity received $29,000 in 2023, has enabled it to deliver tens of thousands of meals to families in need across Albany, Bunbury, and Esperance. The formal 12-month partnership, inked in June 2023, was a departure from Southern Ports’ usual ad hoc support, recognising the growing need for food security in regional areas. The $29,000 has paid for 1933 emergency food relief hampers — equal to about 25,608 meals — with 1287 handed out across Albany, Bunbury, and Esperance over the last 10 months, and 646 to go. Charlotte Murray, Desmond Benfield and their two young children picked up their hamper from Foodbank Albany on Thursday. Ms Murray said the box of pantry essentials was “amazing help, especially having two kids” and she was taken aback by the “tight-knit” support in Albany after moving from the Goldfields-Esperance region. “There’s a lot of people that struggle, but here it’s a lot different than Kalgoorlie, that’s for sure,” she said. “They really make it a lot easier . . . Being a mum of two, every little bit helps.” Foodbank Albany regional manager Rod Pfeiffer said the partnership had been “far-reaching” and timely in the face of a cost-of-living crisis that had hit particularly hard in the past 18 months. “Our numbers are going crazy, and literally we couldn’t have managed without it,” he said. “You can walk into our branch and unfortunately you see empty shelves — it’s just trying to keep up with demand.” Mr Pfeiffer welcomed measures in the recent State and Federal Budgets to tackle the cost-of-living crisis but said the issue would remain “a big concern” and was “unfortunately not going away anytime soon”. Southern Ports Albany regional manager Paul McSweeney said the initiative was a “more significant partnership” than anything the business had done previously, and was designed “to boost outcomes and provide essentials to as many families as we can”. “Almost all of our staff live and work in our regions — they’re part of the community — so being able to make a positive contribution and a real difference to local people and local families, it matters to us,” he said.