The Benalla Community Food Collective's Food Share Strategy and Food Security Framework document was launched at Benalla's Visitor Information Centre on Wednesday, January 21.
Food insecurity is an issue affecting an increasing number of people in Benalla.
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Luckily, for the Rose City, it has community groups that give up their time to help those who need it most.
One of those is the Benalla Community Food Collective.
On Wednesday, January 21 the group held a public launch of its Food Share Strategy and Food Security Framework, at the Visitor Information Centre.
The initiative grew from Waminda Community House and the Benalla Homelesness Response Group, receiving funding from the Victorian Government’s Community Food Relief Program.
That funding enabled Waminda House to employ a dedicated project officer, Eleanor Currie.
She has established the BCFC and developed the strategy, released on Wednesday.
That strategy has been designed to bring together, and strengthen, existing community food relief, food security initiatives and circular food economy efforts in Benalla.
Waminda Community House project officer, Eleanor Currie, has led the development of the Food Share Strategy and Food Security Framework document.
Photo by
Simon Ruppert
Waminda Community House manager Leeane Bullard introduced the document, and spoke about what informed it and its goals.
“In 2024, Waminda was successful in securing over $78,000,” she said.
“This funding has enabled the Benalla Homelessness Response Group, our partner in the project, to purchase equipment, including a food van, kitchen equipment, and a washer and dryer, which is down under the library.
“This is wonderful.”
Ms Bullard said in the funding was also used to develop the document being presented, which had two parts:
A Food Share Strategy
A Food Security Framework
“They are grounded in the lived experiences of both the food providers and the people who access the services,” Ms Bullard said.
“These voices have directly informed many key actions outlined in our strategy.
“Listening carefully to the community was our approach.
“This supports accessibility, choice, and increased opportunities for social connection.
“This strategy has been intentionally designed to include practical and achievable actions.
“It is intended to be accessible to anyone, whether an individual community member, representative of an organisation or agency in Benalla.”
Ms Bullard then handed over to Ms Currie who explained that it had taken six months from the group being formed to this document being released.
“We wanted to strengthen existing food relief services in Benalla because there’s a number of them,” Ms Currie said.
“But it’s also about incorporating people from the health sector, the education sector and local government.
“The people in the group we formed have been really awesome.
“It’s a really passionate group of people that are dedicated to this work in Benalla, as well as strengthening existing services, while also looking at how we can improve and where the gaps are.”
Ms Currie said that when the group formed they decided the best way to develop their strategy was via a survey.
“We had 183 survey responses,” she said.
“It was distributed across the Benalla LGA as best we could.”
She said it delivered three main findings:
There’s more than 8000 visits to food relief every week in Benalla;
It found that coordination of food relief services would benefit the community, and;
That food relief is not just about food, it's social, too.
“It's really an avenue for people to meet their social needs,” Ms Currie said.
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