Services firm Sodexo has donated $32,000 to Foodbank’s Key Staples Program to tackle hunger in Australia this World Food Day, Tuesday, October 16.
Foodbank’s world-leading Key Staples Program proactively sources and manufactures essential food items like meat, pasta, flour and rice with the help of Australian businesses.
The demand for these staple ingredients is outstripping supply, hindering Foodbank’s ability to provide nutritious meals, meaning 65,000 people are being turned away every month due to lack of food relief, 17,550 of whom are children.
Foodbank Australia chief executive officer, Brianna Casey said the organisation is thrilled to partner with Sodexo to help achieve their target of 50 million kilograms of food and groceries to vulnerable people each year.
“More than 3.6 million people experience food insecurity at some point every year, with 1 in 5 Australian children facing the same struggle,” she said.
The Foodbank Hunger Report 2018, which was released this week, reveals that 4 million Australians have experienced food insecurity in the past 12 months.
The report exposes a growing problem in country areas where, during the past 12 months, 1.5 million Australians experienced the uncertainty of not knowing where their next meal will come from.
“Tackling the big problem of hunger in the country is an urgent issue that can’t be ignored," Casey said.
"The startling finding of the report begs the question how much worse the current drought in the eastern states will make the situation, particularly given that the report also shows that vulnerable families in the country find it harder to access food and are more likely to feel embarrassed and unable to talk to friends and family about their situation than their metro counterparts.”
“How many Australians need to be going hungry before we see government action?” Casey asked. “We need a bi-partisan, whole-of-government plan to tackle this crisis. With a Federal election just around the corner, our political leaders have an ideal opportunity to commit to introducing a Food Security Strategy to ensure there are big solutions to what is clearly a big problem for our nation.”
Sodexo Australia chief financial officer and country president, Mark Chalmers said: “Ending world hunger is one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals which forms part of Sodexo’s Better Tomorrow 2025 Corporate Responsibility Road Map.
“As a global company, it’s a collective goal we’re committed to achieving.”
