A food relief program at Pathway Community Centre is making a big difference to people who are doing it tough due to the fuel crisis and high cost of living pressures.
The Adelaide based food program supports around 2000 households a fortnight with the help of SecondBite rescued food, and they have seen a sharp increase in demand since fuel prices started to rise.
Pathway Director Noelle Wallis saidthey ran their food program six days a week and were supporting around 150 households a day with food hampers. But since fuel prices increased that number has jumped up to 175 households a day seeking food.
“It is a significant increase in demand for food relief. In the three and a half years I’ve been here, I’ve never seen such a measurable increase in such a short space of time,” she said, adding that some people in their community were making the tough choice between paying for petrol or paying for food.
“We couldn’t provide food to all these households without the support of SecondBite.”
Food supplies struggling to meet demand
The increased number of people seeking food relief is putting extra pressure on Pathway’s food relief program supplies.
Ms Wallis said extra deliveries of rescued food from SecondBite had been a great help to their program, but they still didn’t have enough food to meet the demand.
The SecondBite truck delivers food to Pathway Community Centre five days a week – including fruit and vegetables, meat and dairy items, as well as ready-to-eat meals made in the FareShare kitchens.
Pathway also collect food six days a week with their own vehicles – including picking up surplus food from five Coles supermarkets.
Noelle said the increased cost of diesel to fuel their own vehicles was having a big effect on them.
“We run a small truck and a refrigerated van and there’s been a massive increase to our fuel costs. This is going to hit us hard.“
Coles’ ongoing support
Every day, Coles team members set aside unsold, edible food for SecondBite so it can reach local charities and communities where it is needed most. In FY26, Coles provided the equivalent of 40.1 million meals to SecondBite (336 million meals since 2011).
