By DANE LILLINGSTONE
FOODASSIST Warwick wants to get the word out that there shouldn’t be a stigma around using their services and that everyone is welcome.
FoodAssist provides a budget food service for people with hampers available consisting of things like pasta, vegetables, tea, biscuits and a various assortment of other food products.
From humble beginnings as a fortnightly van, they are now open Monday-Friday from 9am to 3pm.
Supervisor of FoodAssist Warwick, Esther Spicer, has been part of the program in Warwick since its inception.
“We’re getting at least 10 people a day coming through now and that’s wonderful but we need the awareness out there. I think there are still a few people who are a bit concerned about coming, that people might know they’re on food assist. There’s that mentality,” she said.
“Most people don’t know about it and when they find out they’re absolutely rapt.
“We do $15 hampers, we do $30 super hampers and at the moment we have $10 school boxes for sale then we’ve got toddler formula for free and baby bottles at $2 each.
“We always have three bags of pasta in a box, everything else changes.”
She said they were more than happy to mix hampers around to suit dietary requirements.
FoodAssist has been helping distribute food in the Darling Downs since 1996 and has been operating in Warwick since October.
Originally they were operating out of Queens Park on a fortnightly basis but they have recently moved into their new home at 38 Percy Street, Warwick.
The organisation is not-for-profit and relies on the efforts of volunteers and other members of the community with donating food in partnership with FoodAssist Toowoomba and Foodbank.
“It’s a wonderful product to be available to a lot of people that are counting dollars or whatever the circumstances are and there is no criteria. If they’ve got a Medicare card I can put them through,” Esther said.
“They’re all volunteers and they’re all absolutely wonderful.”
