End Hunger in Australia

8/22/2019 End Hunger in Australia

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End Hunger Report 2012 Foodbank Australia

ENDHUNGERIN AUSTRALIA





End Hunger Report 2012 1

Contents Charts& Tables

Message rom the Chairman _______________________ 03Message rom the CEO_____________________________ 04

Executive Summary _______________________________ 05

1 Economic issues aecting hunger in Australia______ 061.1 Economic climate ________________________________071.2 Industry trends __________________________________ 11

2 Demand or ood relie ____________________________122.1 Who welare agencies help________________________ 132.2 Who welare agencies help with ood ______________15

3 Meeting the demand _____________________________ 203.1 Food requirements ______________________________21

3.2 Increasing demand ______________________________23

4 Foodbank’s contribution _________________________ 264.1 Who Foodbank provides a service to ______________ 284.2 The Foodbank experience ________________________29

Appendix A : Survey inormation ___________________ 30

Reerences ________________________________________ 32

Chart 1.1 Change in net wealth (Index: 2003-04 = 100) _ 07Chart 1.2 Average income and expenditure or average low

economic resource and average all person ($) ___ 08

Chart 1.3 Change in income and price o key expenditureitems (%) (Index: 2003-04 = 100) ____________ 09

Chart 2.1 Types o client groups assisted __________________13

Chart 2.2 Change in client demand ______________________14

Chart 2.3 Types o client groups assisted with ood _________15

Chart 2.4 Most common ood assistance _________________16

Chart 2.5 People by ood assistance provided _____________17

Chart 2.6 Demand by product __________________________18

Chart 2.7 Emergency relie services provided ______________19

Chart 2.8 Other welare services provided ________________19

Chart 3.1 Frequency o ood obtained rom Foodbank ______21

Chart 3.2 Proportion o ood purchased _________________ 22

Chart 3.3 Change in number o individuals thatapproach or ood assistance __________________ 23

Chart 3.4 Extra resources needed ______________________ 24

Chart 3.5 Signicance o ood provision _________________ 25

Chart 4.1 Organisation type ___________________________ 28

Chart 4.2 Agency satisaction with Foodbank ____________ 29

Table 4.1 State breakdown ____________________________ 30



Felicity School breakast program participant




Message romthe Chairman

The United Nations World Food Summit denes ood security as existing“when all people at all times have access to sucient, sae, nutritious ood tomaintain a healthy and active lie”.

It is a sad act that some two million people in this ‘lucky country’ do not satisythis denition. On their behal I present Foodbank Australia’s rst End Hungerreport to shine a light on this oten hidden problem and to look at ways toaccelerate the elimination o what is an untenable situation.

This report highlights key statistics but it is only when one sees the aces o ellowAustralians impacted by hunger that the real meaning o these numbers becomesevident. Foodbank has seen those aces in the 20 years that it has been addressingthe problem with the help o the ood and grocery industry and the governmentat both ederal and state levels.

This report is a call to action. It acknowledges achievements to date but highlightsthe need to do more. We must heed this message with urgency because access toood is not discretionary but every person’s right and chronic hunger is one o lie’smost miserable afictions.

What do we at Foodbank believe it will take to make the step change necessary todouble our volumes by 2015?

– First and oremost we need more unds. We approached the Federal Governmentor nancial assistance or our collaborative supply program in 2010 providinga business case or $4.5m annually over 5 years to proactively source andmanuacture the key staples we need to guarantee adequate and consistentsupply. We are grateul or the $1m per annum support which we currently

receive rom the Department o Families, Housing, Community Services andIndigenous Aairs but serious change is reliant on our initial unding requestbeing realised. We need to work with other areas o government as ood deliversnot just welare but also health and education outcomes.

– Secondly, we need to develop an even stronger partnership with the transportindustry. Moving ood and groceries rom where they originate to where they areneeded is one o the single biggest challenges, and costs, in Foodbank’s operations.Assistance in how to do this eciently and eectively is vital.

– Thirdly, we seek to amend the tax laws to provide companies with an incentive todonate to Foodbank. While we have strong support rom the ood industry with$170m value o goods donated last year, the current tough commercialenvironment means the provision o surplus ood to Foodbank has plateaued.

A change in the tax laws avouring the donation o ood is something that hasbeen adopted in the United States o America with great success. Such a changecould replicate the impact that the Good Samaritan Laws provided ten years ago.

I wish to acknowledge the support o Deloitte Access Economics in undertaking theanalysis or this report – having a proessional organisation o its stature provides uswith condence in the veracity o the data on such an important topic.

I would like to thank all the welare agencies who gave their time to submit responsesto the End Hunger survey and commit to them that Foodbank will leave no stoneunturned in attempting to meet their needs.

Enzo Allara AMChairman, Foodbank Australia



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Message romthe CEO

An ‘Australia without Hunger’ is an audacious goal and one that can only beachieved with the help o the broader community.

In this regard Foodbank is a simple conduit between the desperate need o somany in our community and the wonderul support o our riends in the ood andgrocery industry. Making matters more dicult is the act that both sides o thisstory are largely untold – the problem o hunger is largely hidden rom the generalpopulation and the generosity o the ood and grocery industry is orthcomingwithout anare and oten without recognition.

Our rst End Hunger report highlights the challenges aced – there are no surprisesto Foodbank and no surprises to the 2,500 charities we support who do themagnicent work o assisting those in need on a daily basis.

The growth in demand or hunger relie indicated in the report is refected also inthe 12% increase in the number o welare agencies seeking ood rom Foodbankover the last 12 months.

To help address this demand, Foodbank recorded a 23% increase in the volume o ood and grocery items it made available in the 2011 calendar year. However, theood and grocery sector is also acing tremendous commercial challenges and thetraditional Foodbank model o collecting surplus manuactured ood has peaked.New solutions are necessary to achieve this growth such as arranging themanuacture o key staple oods through our collaborative supply program andcollecting more resh ood and ingredients at the arm gate level.

In 2011 over 4 million kilograms o key staple oods were manuactured orFoodbank – where many o the ingredients were donated – including milk, breakast

cereal, pasta, pasta sauce, canned ruit and vegetables and prepared meals. Likewisewe collected over 4 million kilograms o resh ruit and vegetables rom individualarmers, companies and the central markets in each state.

Supplying the ood to end hunger is a huge task and Foodbank’s current target is toreach 50 million kilograms by 2015. We cannot do this without maintaining thestrong support rom ood producers, manuacturers and retailers across Australiaand receiving increased support rom the ederal and state governments.

This End Hunger report provides the evidence that more needs to be done.Foodbank looks orward to working with the arming community, ood and groceryindustry and the government to ensure the basic human need or nourishment ismet or all in our community.

John WebsterCEO, Foodbank Australia




This is the rst End Hunger report produced by Foodbankbased on analysis by Deloitte Access Economics. It presentsthe results o a survey o welare agencies sourcing ood romFoodbank undertaken in 2011, and highlights the ood needso those agencies in addressing ood insecurity amongindividuals and amilies in Australia.

This report gives an overview o the Australian economy andthen looks at ve main themes:

ExecutiveSummary

Demand or ood relie is rising. An increase in the number o

individuals seeking ood assistance is being experienced in almost 70%o agencies and across all welare groups. More than 1 in 4 agenciesreported an increase in excess o 15% over a twelve month period with1 in 10 agencies experiencing an increase greater than 30%.

It’s not who you think. More agencies are now providing ood relie services to low income households than unemployed households,while the percentage providing assistance to single parent amilies isalso high. Some households with an income are still seeking help with

their basic ood requirements.

Food relie agencies are not able to meet demand. Nearly 90% o agencies reported not having enough ood to meettotal demand. 6 in 10 agencies require at least 25% more ood withalmost 3 in 10 agencies requiring double the ood.

Food is oten the key rst step towards a longer term solution. Most agencies agree that ood is a signifcant reason why people seektheir services, and the provision o ood builds trust, enabling theagency to oer other services such as housing or education.

Foodbank is providing a valuable service to hunger relie agencies.Some 95% o agencies were satisfed or neutral in their evaluation o Foodbank’s service provision. However, there is more that Foodbankcan do.

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1

Sarah Food parcel recipient




Economic issues aectinghunger in Australia

The Foodbank 2011 Survey highlighted that, throughoutAustralia demand or ood relie is rising.

Australia has enjoyed two decades o economic growth, withthe average net wealth o a household increasing 28% since2003-04 (ABS, 2011a).

However, this increase in wealth has not been elt across thewhole population. For the poorest 20% o households, netwealth only increased 4% (Chart 1.1). This group accounted or1% o total household wealth in 2003-04 and they still onlyaccounted or 1% o the total household wealth in 2009-10.

1.1 Economic climate

Further, the poorest 20% o households have the highest debtto asset ratio, at 43% (ABS, 2011b). Only one in 25 own theirown home and 90% owe money on that home (with theaverage value o the house being oset by a similar averagevalue o mortgage). In eect, Australia may be prosperous,but the most disadvantaged remain challenged.

It is important to look at groups with both low wealth andlow incomes. It is this group that is more likely to experiencehardship or experience nancial stress and require assistance.

There has been little change in total net wealth or those in low economic resourcehouseholds over the period 2003–04 to 2009–10 (up 4%), while the averageAustralian net wealth has increased 28%. In eect, Australia has become awealthier country but this wealth has not translated to those that require oodassistance most.

Low economic resource

All persons

Chart 1.1 Change in net wealth (Index: 2003-04 = 100)

2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10

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People in low economic resource households earn aroundhal o the disposable income o the average Australian andhave around 13% o the net worth o the average. Spendingon goods and services by this group is around 65% o theAustralian average, indicating much lower consumption.

People in this group are less likely to be able to raiseemergency money rom their own savings and more likelyto require help rom amily and riends. While their weeklyhousehold income has increased relatively closely to theaverage Australian, so too has their expenditure. Chart 1.2shows that this group’s expenditure continues to outstrip theirincome, though the rise o amily benets and other transer

payments in recent years has assisted with a modest closingo that gap, as has the generally good job growth recordedover the past decade.

1.1 Economic climate cont.

Even so, the net eect is that there has been little changein total net wealth or those in low economic resourcehouseholds over the period 2003-04 to 2009-10 (up 4%),while the average Australian net wealth has increased30%. The estimated proportion o the total population inthis area o disadvantage has remained constant at 22%.

Not surprisingly, this group also eels greater nancialpressure than the average Australian, with more than athird reporting that their nances were worse than two years ago.

In eect, Australia has become a wealthier country butthis wealth has not translated to those that require ood

assistance most.

Chart 1.2 Average income and expenditure or average low economic resource and average all person ($)

Low economicresource income

Low economicresource expenditure

All persons income

All persons expenditure

Source: ABS 2011a. Only 2003-04 and 2009-10 are included as expenditure data was not collected or 2005-06.

Food prices have still risen rather aster than prices in general. This is important,because ood makes up a relatively larger share o spending or the needy – theyhave less and concentrate their spending on staples such as ood and shelter.

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The greater nancial pressure elt by these householdsis partly due to the rising cost o ood in Australia. Foodexpenditure makes up a much greater proportion o disposable income or low economic resource householdsthan or the average Australian household.

Food prices are rising or a variety o reasons, including risingprosperity in developing nations (leading to an increasingdemand or ood and, in particular, protein) as well as the riseo bio-diesel as a new source o demand or grains and oils.Supply issues have also aected prices, rom cyclones tofoods and drought both here and around the world.

For Australian consumers the increase in the $A has provideda degree o protection rom the increase in ood prices, withimported ood now relatively cheaper. However, ood priceshave still risen rather aster than prices in general with themajority o that pain evident since the mid-1990s. This isimportant, because ood makes up a relatively larger share o spending or the needy – they have less and concentrate theirspending on staples such as ood and shelter. As a relatedpoint, as Chart 1.3 shows, the prices o both shelter andwarmth have also risen aster than the average income or lowresource households or some years, adding to the pressures

Electricity

Rent

Food

Weekly disposable income(low resource)

Source: ABS 2011a

Chart 1.3 Change in income and price o key expenditure items (%) (Index: 2003-04 = 100)

2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10

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The Wheelies have been bringing joy to adults and children with disabilities since1996 by giving them rides on our specially adapted motorcycles. We saw anadditional need in our area and elt we need to respond so every second Thursdaywe distribute groceries to people in the neighbourhood who are struggling.Without Foodbank we wouldn’t be able to oer this service which is a godsend tosome o the olk around here.

Richard ‘Highway Man’ BassettWednesday Wheelie Warriors



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elt by the least well o. Indeed over the period 2003-04 to2009-10, the price o electricity has risen by 54%, rent 33%and ood 24%, while disposable incomes o low economicresource households have risen by just over 20%.

To note some simple examples, lamb prices have tripled overthe past two decades, while prices or ruit, vegetables andeggs have more than doubled.

Price pressures on ood are likely to remain or a while, as Chinaand India continue to become more prosperous (and soconsume more ood, particularly more protein-intensive ood)and as climatic changes produce ever more volatile weatherpatterns. However, the greatest pressure on ood prices in

coming years may be driven by a all in the Australian dollar.This will see the price o ood imports rise, placing increasingpressure on low income households.

1.1 Economic climate cont.

We are seeing a huge increase in working amilies who are struggling to meet thecosts o living. This impacts greatly on the children who are in turn going to schoolwithout breakast and/or lunch.

Pastor Della MatthewsGospel Lighthouse




Foodbank provided around 24 million kilograms o ood towelare agencies in 2011, showing remarkable growth romthe 5 million kilograms provided in 2003/04. This growth hascome at a time when pressure is being placed on the source o Foodbank’s donations rom the ood and grocery industry,or various reasons, including:

– More ecient inventory control has limited a key naturalsupply source namely surplus inventory among the nation’sood and grocery manuacturers and retailers. Across thelast two decades better planning methods and the rise o inormation technology has reduced the percentageshare o surplus product made by Australia’s ood and

grocery manuacturers.– Increased product specialisation has narrowed the scope

o products donated. Globalisation trends in oodproduction have seen manuacturers increasingly ocuson areas in which they have a comparative advantage.As a result, some ood and grocery lines which wereproduced domestically are now the sole preserve o imports, while other locally produced lines previouslydirected only at the domestic market, now sell to the widerworld. This trend has narrowed the potential sources o supply or Foodbank.

– Increased industry concentration has narrowed the

donor companies. Companies are increasingly exploitingthe available economies o scale in ood and grocerymanuacturing. As a result, the number o large players inthe sector’s various niches has tended to narrow over timeleading to a long term decline in the company and productbase o traditional suppliers to Foodbank.

1.2 Industry trends

– Fewer ailed product launches. Another large source o traditional supply to Foodbank Australia has beenunsuccessul product launches – where a manuacturerseeks to establish a new product line (such as a new cereal)but the product ails to take o. This oten ormed animportant part o the donation base to Foodbank. However,over the past two decades the targeting in market researchunderlying new product launches has become much moresophisticated. Due to this trend, the proportion o newproduct launches that result in excess product has allensubstantially over time.

The impact o these actors has lead to a plateau in donations

o ‘surplus to need’ manuactured ood and grocery items inthe last 2 years. Despite these diculties, and at a time whenthe relative price o ood has been increasing, Foodbank hascontinued to increase the volume o ood provided to welareagencies, through new initiatives which include arranging themanuacture o key staple oods (where Foodbank seeks tohave the inputs donated) and collecting surplus resh ruitand vegetables.

The demand or ood by low income households is likely toincrease over the next couple o years, as both ood pricesand the unemployment rate continue to rise, indicating thatthe demand or increasing volumes o ood rom Foodbank

is likely.

Kristy Young

UnitingCare, Hobart Benevolent Society

We assist numerous homeless and couch surng clients and it’s no surprise thatthe number is rising due to the nancial strain people are under. We are seeing anumber o new clients present who have ‘slipped into situational poverty’ whichis a real concern.



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2

Bob Prepared meal recipient




Demand orood relie

Demand or ood relie is rising and it’s not who you think. The numbers asking orood assistance are increasing, and demand is greater rom low income and singleparent households than rom the unemployed. More than 1 in 10 agencies reportedan increase in demand in excess o 30% over a twelve month period. Food parcelscomprise a large part o ood assistance, with demand or staples and long lieproducts greatest.

In an average month the number o people assisted by eachwelare agency was 219, while the number o peopleapproaching agencies was 316 representing a signicant gapbetween demand and supply.

The majority o agencies provide assistance to low incomeamilies, the unemployed, and single parent amilies (seeChart 2.1), with over 65% o agencies providing services tothese groups.

2.1 Who welare agencies help

Chart 2.1 Types o client groups assisted(% o agencies providing service)

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Common responses in the ‘other’ category included students/school children, and women and children dealing with domestic violence.



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In the past year over a quarter o agencies reported increasesin the number o individuals approaching them or help o between 6–15%. Around 15% reported increases in demando 16–30%, while 13% reported increases o more than 30%over the past year. The weighted average growth was 11%1 .

1 The weighted average increase was calculated using mid-points o the ranges, multiplied by the average number o people the agency assisted.

The demand or services has been increasing in general acrossthe board. Chart 2.2 shows the change in client demand orservices with at least hal the welare agencies reportingincreasing demand across all groups. However, close to a thirdare reporting that demand is constant, indicating that theremay be increasing demand in certain locations or amongdierent client types.

Chart 2.2 Change in client demand

2.1 Who welare agencies help cont.

We have experienced a consistent increase o approximately 30% especially in thelast 6 months; both new and regular clients who just don’t have enough money tosurvive on each ortnight. In particular the number o single men presenting orassistance has increased.

Carol Davis Emergency Relie Co-ordinator – Knox Inolink

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Around 80% o agencies assisted low income amilies withood provision, ollowed closely by the unemployed andsingle parent amilies.

In comparison to those provided with any assistance thetrends were very similar. However, there were oten slightchanges between the rankings. For example more agenciesprovide ood assistance to single parent amilies thanunemployed, however or all assistance the rankings werethe opposite. This is a recurring theme throughout the data.

Chart 2.3 Types o client groups assisted with ood (% o agencies providing service)

2.2 Who welare agencies help with ood

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2.2 Who welare agencies help with ood cont.

The most common type o ood assistance provided wasood parcels, ollowed by meals consumed on site, as shownin Chart 2.4. The high percentage providing ood parcelsrefects the most common groups assisted by welare agencies.Low income, unemployed and single parent households donot usually need assistance with ood preparation, but withthe supply o basic ingredients with which to make meals.However those with a mental illness and the homeless aremore likely to require prepared meals consumed on site.

Those people who received ood rom agencies were likely todo so several times a week. Chart 2.5 shows that nearly aquarter o recipients receive some ood every day o the week,

with a urther 42% o clients assisted with ood or severaldays o the week.

Chart 2.4 Most common ood assistance (% o agencies providing service)

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The most common response in the ‘other’ category was ood vouchers (representing nearly a third o the category), ollowed by bread only and git cards.




Chart 2.5 People by ood assistance provided(% o clients assisted)

We are eeding a rising number o people, many with disabilities, the elderly (lots o pensioners) and a heap o budget-stretched young amilies. We need an increase inthe amount o staple oods – basic everyday items like bread and cereal. We neverhave enough and we need them on a more regular basis.

Pastor David Patch Reach Out Family and Community Care

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2.2 Who welare agencies help with ood cont.

The types o ood demanded tended to be staples such asbread, milk, grains, ruit and vegetables. Demand or staplesand ‘long lie’ ood is signicantly higher than or rozen mealsand conectionery.

Average agency demand or all products was positive, as canbe expected when averaging data, around the middle o therange o 1 (lowest demand) to 5 (highest demand). Howeverthe relative need was substantially dierent, with milk (thehighest ranked product) being ranked at almost 3.8, while sotdrinks and conectionery were ranked at just 2.1.2 This reinorcesthe message that it is staples which are in greatest demand– milk, breakast cereal, bread, ruit and vegetables.

Chart 2.7 shows the type o emergency relie servicesprovided by the welare agencies. The most commonservice provided is ood parcels, with nearly 80% o allrespondents providing this service. Some 49% o respondentsprovide meals or their clients, while nearly 18% run a schoolbreakast program.

2 Note this question asked: ‘what is your organisation’s demand or all the ollowing products (1 being lowest demand, 5 being highest demand).

The dots in Chart 2.7 show how important welare agenciesregard the service – the higher the rank, the more importantwelare agencies regard the service overall. Most emergencyservices were broadly regarded as equally important, withood parcels ranking slightly higher, and urniture and cashranking slightly lower.

In addition to emergency relie, over 69% o respondents alsoprovide inormation and reerral services, shown in Chart 2.8.Over 54% provide counselling services, and over 43% providebudgeting and advocacy services. Low interest loan schemesand toy shop services were not regarded as being asimportant as other services.

Chart 2.6 Demand by product (Organisation’s demand or – rank)

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Chart 2.7 Emergency relie services provided (% o agencies providing service)

Chart 2.8 Other welare services provided (% o agencies providing service)

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4

6

8

10

12

F o o d p a r c e l s

H o u s e h o l d g o o d s

C l o t h i n g

M e a l s

P a y m e n t o f b i l l s

E m e r g e n c y r e l i e f

v o u c h e r s

F u r n i t u r e

S c h o o l b r e a k f a s t

p r o g r a m

C a s h

O t h e r

E m e r g e n c y

a c c o m m o d a t i o n

Importance rank(higher = more important)

Importance rank(higher = more important)



20

3

Ngoc Linh and Jessica School breakast program recipients




Meetingthe demand

Food relie agencies are not able to meet demand. Nearly 90% o agenciesreported not having enough ood to meet total demand. 6 in 10 agencies requireat least 25% more ood with almost 3 in 10 agencies requiring double the ood.

Foodbank is a major source o supply or agencies, providingaround 55% o the ood required every month. Donations

rom other sources accounted or 15% o ood required,while agencies purchased, on average, 25% o their ood.

One third o agencies obtain ood rom Foodbank at leastonce a week and another 50% o agencies obtained oodeither every couple o weeks or once a month, as shownin Chart 3.1.

3.1 Food requirements

Chart 3.1 Frequency o ood obtained rom Foodbank

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

M

o r e t h a n

o n c e a w e e k

O n c e a w e e k

O n

c e e v e r y

c o u p l e o f w e e k s

O n c e a m o n t h

A f e w t i m e s

a y e a r

O n c e a y e a r

N

o t i n t h e

l a s t y e a r



22

3.1 Food requirements cont.

For those agencies purchasing ood to ll the gap abovedonated ood, the proportion o ood purchased was mostlydry goods at 42%, with resh ruit and vegetables and meatand poultry both around 17%.

Chart 3.2 Proportion o ood purchased

Colin J LlewellynCEO o Presbyterian Social Services

The ministry o helping is not conned to giving ood. I also become their riend,and we give them a psalm that changes rom week to week or them to refect on.It’s about changing their lives. We used to take the ood outside and they picked it

up rom there until I questioned why we weren’t bringing them in. Since we’vestarted bringing them in to collect their ood, I have learnt their names and theyhave learnt mine. Caring must be about more than words. It must be matchedwith an action. They really love the ood we provide them with – the resh milk,coee, jam and cereal. Doing the work is great, but it’s really about HOW youdo it. It has to be done with respect and dignity.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

D

r y g o o d s

F r e s

h f r u i t &

v e

g e t a b l e s

M e a t &

p o u l t r y

D a i r y p

r o d u c t s -

c h e e s e ,

y o g h u r t ,

c r e a m

, b u t t e r

O t h e r

C

u l t u r a l l y

s p e c i fi c f o o d s

Responses in the ‘other’ category consisted mostly o personal hygiene products and pet ood.




3.2 Increasing demand

The number o individuals that approach agencies or oodassistance in the past year has risen strongly with 70% o agencies acing increased demand. Less than a third reportedconstant demand, while around 3% reported alling demandor services. Signicantly, over 10% o agencies reported thatthe number o individuals seeking ood assistance rom theirorganisation had risen by more than 30% (see Chart 3.3).

Chart 3.3 Change in number o individuals that approach or ood assistance (% o respondents)

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

N u m b e r h

a s f a l l e n

N u m

b e r h a s

r e m a i n e d c o n s t a n t

N u m b e r h a s r i s e n

b y u

p t o 5 %

N u m

b e r h a s

i n c r e a s e d b y

6 %

t o 1 5 %

N u m

b e r h a s


1 6 %

t o 3 0 %

N u m

b e r h a s


m o r e t h

a n 3 0 %

Food assistance

Any assistance



24

3.2 Increasing demand cont.

However, around 10% o respondents reported needingmore than twice their current resources just to meet currentclient needs, showing that there are a large number o clientswho need more assistance than that currently being providedto them.

Agencies overwhelmingly agreed that ood is a signicantreason that people seek the services oered and it helps tobuild trust to oer other assistance (Chart 3.5).

Given the number o agencies reporting signicant increasesin demand or ood provision, it is no surprise that there wasa matching need or increasing resources to meet potentialclient needs – nearly 90% o agencies reported not havingenough ood to meet total demand and nearly a quarter o respondents said that they would need more than twicetheir current resources to meet total demand (as shown inChart 3.4).

Chart 3.4 Extra resources needed (% o agencies)

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

N o n e

U p t o 1 0

% m

o r e

1 1 % t

o 2 5

% m

o r e

2 6 % t

o 5 0

% m

o r e

5 1 % t

o 7 5

% m

o r e

T w i c e

a s m u c h

T h r e e t i m e s

a s m u c h

O t h e r

Resources needed to meetcurrent clients

Resources needed to meetpotential clients

Note: ‘Other’ responses in this question varied rom unknown to over 10 times, however the most common response was ‘5 times’.

Jennier FarmerSyndal Syndal Baptist Church

We oer a care package at the time o crisis that brings the client to us, whichgives us time to explore the real needs o the individual. At the time o review itis our hope that we have built enough trust currency or the client to be open toexplore other areas o need whether they be physical, emotional or spiritual.




Chart 3.5 Signicance o ood provision

Jason and Peita came to the Food Barn approximately 12 months ago indesperation as Jason had been retrenched rom a local mine, they had lost one o their ve children to SIDS and they’d been evicted rom their home as they hadno income – they were just normal people doing it tough. They were living on thebeach using a box trailer or the kids to sleep in and a truck tarp to live under.At the Food Barn they received ood and assistance which enabled them to getback on their eet. Peita now volunteers in the Food Barn doing reception work inthe oce. Jason has ound work and they have a house or their amily to live in.

Jason is also active in our men’s shed program to give back to the community.They have both also become members o our church.

Pastor Je DakersHouse o Hope Recovery Centre

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

S t r o n g l y a g r e e

A g r e e

N e i t h

e r a g r e e

n o r

d i s a g r e e

D i s a g r e e

S t r o n g l y

d i s a g r e e

Food is a signicant reasonpeople seek your service

Food helps your sta buildtrust to oer other services



26

4

Matthew Prepared meal recipient




Foodbank’scontribution

Foodbank is the largest hunger relie charity in Australia. It isa national organisation with distribution centres in all statecapitals, the Northern Territory and eight regional centres. It isendorsed by the Australian Food and Grocery Council as the

ood industry’s preerred means o disposal o surplus product,and is relied upon by Australian charities as the ‘pantry o thewelare sector’.

Foodbank increases the ecient operation o the Australianeconomy by directing to the needy some o the ood andgroceries that would otherwise end up as the commercialsurplus o the nation’s ood and grocery manuacturersand retailers.

– Foodbank distributed 24 million kilograms o ood andgroceries in 2011, receiving regular donations rom 50national companies and over 650 smaller ones. Donorsreceive brand protection and assurance that their donations

will not be sold, exchanged or bartered. Product integrity isassured with proessional transport, warehousing anddistribution systems in place.

The ood and groceries Foodbank distributes annuallyrepresent a $170 million saving (retail price) to the charitiesand community groups it serves as well as governmentagencies. This is money which can be spent on otheractivities such as counselling and support to address theroot causes o the ood insecurity.

– The volume o ood and groceries distributed by Foodbankrepresents remarkable compound growth o 25% a year onthe 5 million kilograms which Foodbank distributed in2003/04. That growth has occurred despite several trends

which have acted to reduce the traditional supply o surplusproduct to Foodbank including the steady adoption o moreecient inventory controls, increased product specialisation(which has narrowed the scope o products donated) andewer less than successul product launches.

– Moreover, that growth has occurred despite the risingrelative cost o ood, which has also added notably tothe relative value o the Foodbank ood going toAustralia’s needy.

– That growth in Foodbank ood volumes has also occurreddespite the rising cost o uel, which has addedto the costs o services provided to and by Foodbank.

– Some 2,500 charities and community groups and 640schools use Foodbank to stretch their dollar urther, withood or 32 million meals being distributed annually toAustralians in need.

So Foodbank is highly ecient, converting surplus intocharitable donations, and doing so in increasing volumesdespite the various actors eating into Foodbank’s naturalsources o supply.

Foodbank boosts airness by directly helping the needy – allthe more so given the rising relative cost o ood – as wellas reducing pressure on government services and the

services provided by charity workers (allowing the latterto concentrate more on their core task o care-giving).

Foodbank is providing a valuable service to hunger relie agencies. Some 95%o agencies were satised or neutral in their evaluation o Foodbank’s serviceprovision. However, there is more that Foodbank can do.



28

4.1 Who Foodbank provides a service to

As Chart 4.1 shows, over a third o respondents o the surveywere religious organisations, ollowed by charities and welareorganisations. Together, these three types o organisationsaccounted or almost three quarters o survey respondents.The most common responses in the ‘other’ category wereschools, ollowed by NGOs, reuges and rehabilitation services.

Nearly a third o welare agencies surveyed provided servicesover several municipalities, while 50% provided services intheir immediate neighbourhood or municipality. The mediannumber o sta employed is two, while the median number o volunteers per agency is 10.

Chart 4.1 Organisation type

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

R e l i g i o u s

o r g a

n i s a t i o n

C h a r i t a b l e

o r g a

n i s a t i o n

W e l f a r e

o r g a

n i s a t i o n

O t h e r

C o m

m u n i t y

g r o u p

L o c a l g o v e r n m e n t

o r g a

n i s a t i o n

C u l t u r a l

o r g a

n i s a t i o n

Michael Wright

Parramatta Mission

A signicant proportion o the ood used to cook meals at Parramatta Mission’scrisis and transitional services comes rom Foodbank. The savings are signicantand drive our dollar so much urther, enabling us to help more people than weotherwise could.




4.2 The Foodbank experience

Overall, welare agencies indicated that they were satisedwith the service provided by Foodbank. Chart 4.2 shows thatmore than 95% agencies were either satised or neutral withthe service provision.

The categories with the greatest opportunity orimprovement were the availability and range o product, andthe quality o ruit and vegetables, with 12% and 13% o respondents reporting dissatisaction with these aspects o service respectively.

Chart 4.2 Agency satisaction with Foodbank

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

P r o d u c t

o r d e r i n g

P r o d u c t

c

o l l e c t i o n

P r o d u c t d e l i v e r y

s y s t e m s

I n t e r a c t i o n w i t h

F o o d b

a n k s t a f f

A v a i l a b i l i t y &

r a n g e o f p r o d u c t

Q

u a l i t y o f

o t h e r p r o d u c t

Q u a l i t y o f f r u i t

& v e

g e t a b l e s

C o s t o f

h a n d

l i n g f e e s

Very dissatised

Dissatised

Neutral

Satised

Very satised



30

Appendix A:Survey inormation

Foodbank Australia conducted the survey late in 2011.The survey sought responses across a range o questionsrom welare agencies which receive ood and groceriesrom Foodbank. The questions ollowed ve broad themes:

Section 1: Asked questions regarding the organisation, or example size,location and types o services provided.

Section 2: Asked respondents to identiy the dierent types o peoplethey assist, and how oten that assistance is provided.

Section 3:

Focused on ood provision by the organisation, including howmany people are assisted with ood provision, and how manypeople the organisation is unable to provide ood to due toinsucient provisions.

Section 4:Aimed to identiy the ood requirements o the organisation,including where ood is sourced rom, types o ood requiredand whether the demand or their ood is currently greaterthan they can presently meet.

Section 5:Focused on the organisation’s satisaction with Foodbank,and explored dierent areas in which Foodbank is doing well

in service provisions, as well as areas which could be improved.

Survey representationThe Foodbank survey received 1009 responses o which 668were valid. 331 responses were ruled to be rom providers thatdid not provide ood relie; 7 were considered to be duplicatesand 3 were invalid. Table 4.1 shows the total percentage o welare organisations Foodbank provides with ood by State,compared to the breakdown by respondents. The table showsthat the survey over-represents those rom NSW/ACT andVictoria, while Western Australia is under represented in thesurvey responses.

It is anticipated that next year’s survey will be morerepresentative as the intention is or the survey to become

integrated into the annual registration with Foodbank.

Table 4.1 State breakdown

State Number o agencies as %o total agencies

Number o respondents as %o State agencies

Number o respondents as % o survey respondents

NSW/ACT 20% 37% 31%

VIC 20% 49% 36%

QLD 11% 21% 9%

SA 17% 29% 19%

WA 29% 6% 7%

TAS 1% 3% 0%

NT 1% 11% 1%




Survey cleaningThe survey data was cleaned to ensure the analysis was asrobust as possible. This included:

– Removing double counting o duplicate entries rom thesame organisation (7 responses).

– Removing counting rom organisations that are involved inood work but do not provide ood relie. The start o section 3 “Your ood provision” was used to delete themajority o non ood provider responses. It should be notedthat this includes a large number o responses that wereinvalid or other reasons (e.g. only completing the rst page

o the survey and nothing urther). However, beore allresponses were discarded, question 3.6 (the provision o ood) and sections 4 (the sourcing o ood) were alsochecked to ensure that only non-valid responses werediscarded (as it is possible that a respondent may provideood relie but not answer every question related to oodrelie). A total o 331 invalid responses were discarded.

– Standardising responses, which involved correcting allvalues that were tangible values but entered incorrectly,and discarding all values that were not tangible. I anyassumptions were made to standardise the responsebeyond simple conversions they have been stated belowor each question cleaned:

– 1.12: Standardised responses – answers given inpercentages were converted to numbers.

– 1.9: Standardised responses – part time workers wereassumed to be 0.5 o an FTE.

– 1.10: Standardised responses.

– 2.3: Standardised responses – amily counted as 3 people,non-material answers e.g. “sometimes, yes, no” whichcould not be deduced rom previous responses werediscounted.3

– 3.1: Standardised responses – amilies in one questionwere tripled and then broken down between adults andchildren (only 3 responses to this eect). In this questionzero responses were removed as this was the deaultresponse i the question was not answered.

– 3.8: Standardised responses – zero responses were alsoremoved as this was the deault response i the questionwas not answered.

– 4.1: Standardised responses – responses acrosscategories unable to be compared due to dierencesin question interpretation.

– 4.4: Standardised responses.

– 5.12: Standardised responses – where a conversioncould not be ound or square metres the responseswere discounted.

3 Note: Third and ourth section o this question each had between 35-50 contextual response e.g. “yes, no” instead o a quantiable response.



32

Reerences

ABS (Australian Bureau o Statistics) 2011a, 6554.0 – Household Wealth and Wealth Distribution, Australia, 2009-10,Commonwealth o Australia, Canberra.

ABS (Australian Bureau o Statistics) 2011b, 4102.0 – Australian Social Trends, Dec 2011, Commonwealth o Australia, Canberra.

I know or a act that some o the amilies we are assisting have been experiencing

borderline starvation. One mum in particular springs to mind, who said to me thather priority was to eed her babies and that there was oten no ood let in thehouse or hersel. Foodbank has changed this and has also kept her suppliedwith nappies. The joy and excitement that is generated each day o pick up is greatto see, and the way the women band together to help ensure that they all receiveood is terric.

Tempest WatersDelvena Women’s Reuge





Foodbank Australia would like to acknowledge thefollowing who made the End Hunger Report possible:

Deloitte Access Economics or its assistance in undertakingthe analysis or the 2012 End Hunger Report.

Qualtrics or supplying the online research tool used orthe survey.

The Salvation Army, The Presbyterian Social Services,The Wednesday Wheelie Warriors and Canley Vale PublicSchool who welcomed us into their agencies so we coulddocument the real stories behind the statistics.

All the ood relie recipients who allowed us to take theirpictures in order to put a human ace to the issue o hunger.

Documents

End Hunger in Australia