fuelissue 5: Nov/Dec 2010

Feeding the charities that feed Australia

WA School Breakfast Program Boosts LearningFoodbank Alliances Continue to Go the Extra Mile in the Fight Against Hunger

In this issue

FOODOMETER

6,068,206 kg (Actual)

8,000,000 kg (October Target)

24,000,000 kg (2010/11 Target)

Foodbank CEO, John Webster

December Update from the CEO

Recent interest rate rises and the lingering impact of the GFC will mean a little less Christmas cheer for many this year. But spare a thought for those who face the prospect of no cheer at all.

Recent research from Wesley Mission reporting on the impact of financial stress in NSW, reveals that a shocking 7% of people are now going without meals to make ends meet. The report goes on to say that the number of Australians relying on welfare agencies has risen by 12% in just the last year. This is largely due to people seeking assistance who have previously never needed such support.

Here at Foodbank we can corroborate this finding as we have seen a 20% increase in the number of welfare agencies seeking our assistance in NSW alone. This scenario is replicated across the country just at a time when, despite the ongoing willingness of the food industry to help, donations are falling well short of our target as evidenced by the Foodometer.

It would appear that food companies are not immune to the current financial pressures themselves, but with their help we will redouble our efforts to find new avenues for rescuing every bit of useable food before it goes to waste.

On behalf of every single person who has received food assistance this year, I would like to extend sincere thanks to each one of Foodbank’s many generous partners and supporters. Best wishes for the holiday season, and with your continued assistance, we’ll strive to do more in the coming year.

One of the most important programs operated by Foodbank Western Australia is the School Breakfast Program. This program benefits the community by contributing to the health and wellbeing of students at risk of food insecurity.

The common catalyst for schools wishing to establish a breakfast program is students arriving at school having eaten little or no breakfast. Through the program, not only do students receive a nutritious breakfast, there are other positive social, educational and health promotion benefits for the individual, school and wider community.

Through the School Breakfast Program, Foodbank WA serves over 37,000 breakfasts and 11,500 other meals per week to over 315 schools across metropolitan and regional Western Australia which is 1.94 million meals per year. Registered schools are able to access healthy, non-perishable and fresh food products at no cost. These food products are purchased with funding from sponsors including the WA Department of Health, Channel 7 Telethon Trust and BHP Billiton.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, particularly for growing children. Studies show that children who don’t eat breakfast have poorer attention spans and concentra-tion, which affects their ability to learn effectively.

Research has shown that school breakfast programs are linked to improvements in attendance, behaviour, social skills, child safety (reduced bullying), health and academic outcomes.

Evaluation of the WA School Breakfast Program shows con-sistent and substantial improvement in the following areas:

Class engagement 92%Behaviour 90%Attendance 77%Social skills 86%Concentration 93%Academic outcomes 75%

So the Foodbank WA School Breakfast Program helps children to establish a sound foundation for later life by improving their health and giving them the fuel to learn.

WA School Breakfast Program

This month sees the retirement of Doug Paling as inaugural CEO of Foodbank Western Australia Inc, after dedicating 16 years to tirelessly helping those in need.

In 1994, Doug gave up a successful job in the corporate sector to start Foodbank with a dream of creating a single, dedicated organisation with appropriate food handling skills and distribution networks to effectively tackle hunger in the community. Research indicated that about $20 million worth of Western Australian produced food was being dumped or going into animal feed every year.

Things were very difficult in the beginning and it is now folk-lore that, in the early days, Doug worked for no pay and in fact paid for some of the expenses out of his own pocket. In its first year of operation, Foodbank WA rescued 500,000 kilograms of food that was to be dumped.

Doug was to prove the right man for the job as, under his astute management, the operation quickly outgrew the original Belmont premises. An adjacent building was pur-chased which doubled capacity.

By 2001, Foodbank had grown to the point that the Belmont facility was again no longer sufficient to meet demand. A capital fundraising program was initiated and a move to the current premises followed.

During the last 10 years, under Doug’s direction, Foodbank has:

• Increased the number of Agencies serviced to 600• Introduced the School Breakfast Program to 315 schools

throughout WA• Run nutrition and cooking workshops for students, commu-

nity groups and parents• Opened Foodbank warehouses in Albany, Geraldton, Peel

and Bunbury and soon Kalgoorlie Boulder• Developed outstanding relationships with the corporate

and government sectors.

In the last 12 months, Foodbank WA has distributed around 2,3 million kg of food which reflects a saving of 23,000 cubic metres of landfill. Much of this success is due to Doug’s drive, dedication and passion to help those in need.

Doug has been acknowledged for his commitment over the years including being awarded the NAIDOC Non Indigenous Person of the Year award in 2005, named as a John Curtin Medallist in 2003, appeared on the Most Inspirational People list in Scoop Magazine in 2003 and more recently the Community Partner Award from charity group United Way. His departure from Foodbank WA marks a significant milestone in its history and his legacy will live on through the many programs and relationships he innovated.

Farewell to Doug Paling

Research shows having breakfast is linked to improvements in school attendance, behaviour, social skills, child safety, health and academic outcomes

SPC Ardmona, which redirected water damaged branded and private label products to Foodbank

One company’s loss is a hungry person’s windfall

In March this year, wild storms lifted the roof of a storage facility at SPC Ardmona, one of Australia’s premier fruit and vegetable processing companies, damaging a number of pallets of mixed, branded

and private label products bound for super-markets around Australia.

The outer cartons became waterlogged, mak-ing the stock unfit for sale although the cans inside were still sound. Always keen to assist Foodbank, SPC Ardmona decided to turn its loss into a win for the needy. With the blessing of the insurance company and the customers – Woolworths, Coles, Metcash and Aldi – the food was rescued from ending up in landfill and donated to Foodbank in Victoria from where it was distributed to other warehouses.

This is just another example of how SPC Ardmona is prepared to go the extra mile

for Foodbank. Already a long-time donor of surplus food, SPC Ardmona is also a partner in the collaborative supply program helping to provide vital staples such as canned meals and canned fruit.

The fledgling Foodbank Tasmania has received a double boost with funding coming from both the Tasmanian Government to assist with infrastructure development over four years and from the Tas- manian Community Fund to purchase a chiller and freezer truck.• Cool room and freezer facilities are currently being

constructed at the Cambridge warehouse which will also increase the range of food donations Foodbank Tasmania can accept.

• The ‘Your Inspiration at Home’ party plan comp- any is supporting Foodbank during December by asking party guests to bring a can and also

‘round up’ their order to provide a donation to Foodbank operations.

• GS1 Australia has become a Foodbank supporter by providing access to its product categorisation system which will underpin future food data man-agement within the Foodbank organisation.

• After two years of receiving support from WA grain growers, this harvest grain marketing and trading company, CBH Group, is calling on grain growers from around the country to donate grain for processing and manufacturing into key staple foods needed by Foodbank, such as breakfast cereal and pasta.

News in Brief

Quest provides a valuable roof over Foodbank’s headQuest Serviced Apartments in North Ryde are friends of Foodbank, providing accommo- dation for representatives whenever the business of finding fresh supplies brings them to the Foodbank office in the Riverside Corporate Park.

Foodbank relies on corporate supporters to enable it to deliver on its mission of being the food pantry of the welfare sector. Without the donation of goods and services, Foodbank would have to focus hard won resources on operating the business. For several years now Quest, Australasia’s largest provider of serviced apartments, has had no hesitation to put out the welcome mat to Foodbank and for this we are very grateful.

Introducing Sarah Pennell

We’re happy to introduce a new member to the Foodbank Australia team. Sarah Pennell has joined Foodbank in the full-time role of Business and Communications Manager.

Sarah has broad experience in journalism, public relations, marketing and management. Her career has taken her from newspapers to rural research and development corporations in the dairy and horticulture sectors. Most recently she has been consulting in strategic and organis- ational planning, marketing, communica-tions and HR activities including culture and team building.

Sarah’s appointment signals an acknowledg-ment of a need for increased capacity in the Foodbank Australia office. She will have a key role in the organisation’s expanding communications efforts, as well as improving our underpinning business capabilities. Sarah will focus on those areas where a national approach can support and assist the State Foodbanks as well as donors and supporters.

“I’m very excited about joining the Foodbank family and being able to play my part in its vital work. Recognition of the service Foodbanks in Australia deliver, with the help of all their wonderful partners, deserves to be front page news!”

As a leading Australian dairy nu-trition company, Fonterra is committed to making a valued difference to the wellbeing and long-term sustainability of the communities in which it oper-

ates. Part of that involves working at a local level as one of Foodbank’s generous food donors.

Fonterra is the world’s largest dairy exporter and pro-duces some of Australia’s most well-recognised and best-loved brands such as Mainland and Bega cheese, Western Star butter, Nestlé Ski yoghurt and CalciYum milk drinks.

The company has been proud to be a Foodbank part-ner since 2005, donating a wide range of the dairy foods which are a cornerstone of Foodbank’s meal pro-vision. Last year Fonterra was able to provide more than 480,000 kg of milk, cheese, spreads and yoghurt to Foodbank around the country.

“We view our relationship with Foodbank as a great example of how food businesses can make a real, tan-gible difference to the communities in which they op-erate,” said Jim van Bruinessen, Sales Director for Fonterra Brands Australia. “At Fonterra our vision is to be the natural source of dairy nutrition for all Austral-ians everywhere, every day, so we are proud to partner with Foodbank to bring the goodness of dairy to help feed vulnerable Australians.”

Due to the nature of dairy products, safe handling, storage and transportation are paramount so Fonterra’s food rescue efforts require that little bit of extra atten-tion. “Our team is really committed to our partnership with Foodbank, so they’re happy to go the extra mile to ensure that our product safety objectives are met,” said Jim.

Fonterra is looking forward to another year of success-fully partnering with Foodbank in 2011.

Fonterra – trading globally, helping locally

Lindsay Australia Limited’s Food DriveA bit of intercompany competition led to the Lindsay Australia Limited staff collecting over 1,200 cans of food for Foodbank during November. Here are staff from the Brisbane Transport Department with part of their haul.

Foodbank Australia Limited Address: Riverside Corporate Park 11 Julius Ave, North Ryde NSW 2113 Phone: 02 9887 4144 E-mail: admin@foodbank.com.au CEO: John Webster

Foodbank NSW Limited Address: 152 Newton Road Wetherill Park NSW 2164 Phone: 02 9756 3099 Fax: 02 9757 3944 E-mail: office@foodbanknsw.org.au General Manager: Gerry Andersen

Foodbank Queensland Limited Address: 179 Beverley Street Colmslie QLD 4170 Phone: 07 3395 8422 Fax: 07 3395 8477 E-mail: foodbank@westnet.com.au General Manager: Ken McMillan

VicRelief Foodbank Address: 4/2 Somerville Road Yarraville VIC 3013 Phone: 03 9362 8300 Fax: 03 9362 8301 E-mail: info@vrfb.com.au GM Donor Relations: Mike Cannon

Foodbank of South Australia Inc. Address: 377 Cross Road Edwardstown SA 5039 Phone: 08 8351 1136 Fax: 08 8351 1137 E-mail: office@foodbanksa.com.au General Manager: Leigh Royans

Foodbank of Western Australia Inc. Address: 63 Division Street Welshpool WA 6106 Phone: 08 9258 9277 Fax: 08 9258 5177 E-mail: wa.info@foodbankwa.org.au CEO: Greg Hebble

Foodbank of Tasmania Inc. Address: 1066 Cambridge Road Cambridge TAS 7170 Phone: 0418 523 655 Fax: 03 6248 4974 E-mail: timd@foodbank.com.au General Manager: Tim Dunn

Foodbank Northern Territory Address: 9 Mel Road Berrimah NT 0828 Phone: 08 8981 1101 Fax: 08 8941 1866 E-mail: info@bcnt.org.au General Manager: Peter Fisher

Newsletter produced in association with Euro RSCG, The Face & Red Agency teams

Adding a plus to product demonstrationsAn exciting new member of the Foodbank family of food donors is DemoPlus, the industry leader in direct product promotions and in-store sampling across all trade channels in Australia and New Zealand. This is the first time a company such as DemoPlus, a face-to-face marketing company, has partnered with Food-bank and the relationship represents a whole new avenue of food supplies for redistribution to those in need. With 1,600 staff, DemoPlus operates in every State in Australia both in metro and regional areas.

With the permission of its clients, many of whom already support Foodbank directly, DemoPlus will donate stock left over from its sampling activities and promotional campaigns rather than returning or discarding it.

DemoPlus will also be introducing a staff giving program, with the money raised going to Foodbank to help fund its vital work. So staff can see firsthand what Foodbank does and personally lend a hand, they will be given the opportunity to volunteer on company time in the Foodbank warehouses. In addition, the Demo Plus executive team will offer its services in relation to specialist help that may be required by Foodbank.

“I am delighted to be announcing this new partnership with Foodbank. A busi-ness can be successful, however, true success lies in using that business to make a difference. We hope our partnership with Foodbank will make a real difference to the lives of many,” said Caroline Evans, CEO of DemoPlus.

A force in independent retailing steps up supportMetcash Ltd. Australia’s leading independent grocery and liquor wholesaler, dis-tributor and marketer, has signed as a national donor to Foodbank. Metcash do-nated about 250,000 kg of food to Foodbank last year, primarily in Queensland.

By signing up as a national donor in all states, Metcash will be able to adopt a more strategic approach to developing and broadening its relationship with Foodbank. The new formal partnership will create the opportunity for Foodbank to be fully integrated into Metcash’s waste management and corporate social responsibility programs.

Andrew Reitzer, CEO of Metcash said, “We are happy to now be signed up as a national donor to Foodbank after many years of food contributions via Metcash in most state capitals. We hope to support and build both our rural and metro-politan contributions further as we continue to grow together into the future.”

Enzo Allara, Chairman of Foodbank, states, “This signing means we now have commitments from all the major wholesalers and retailers in Australia to provide us with their non-saleable food. We look forward to working with Metcash to identify and redirect every possible kilo of food to help us reach our targets. And we thank them for their generous support.”

The team at DemoPlus, the first face-to-face marketing company to sign up as a national food donor opening up a new avenue of food rescue

Enzo Allara, Chair of Foodbank Australia (left) and Andrew Reitzer, CEO of Metcash, sign the Foodband national donor agreement