By Melanie Bakewell
The ‘cost of living crisis’ has seen an increased demand on traditional food relief services such as charities, community centres and neighbourhood houses.
Earlier this year, an image of people accessing food relief from the Footscray Mall went viral. They were receiving meals and other essentials from the volunteer-run charity Reaching Out in The Inner West which reports they can hand out more than 500 meals in a single night.
But now others in the community are thinking up new ways to help, and they’re doing it online via local community groups on social media.
“I did wonder if people might be sceptical of taking bagels made by some random, but I thought people could make the decision. It’s a nice exercise in trust and goodwill in the community,” says Jed Bowtell, who’s been making batches of fresh bagels and dropping them off at The Little Pantry on Gordon Street in Footscray.
He advertised the bagels on a Facebook community group after seeing other members offering free meals.
“It’s just a nice thing to do particularly in the current economic environment. A lot of people are struggling.”
Ryan Yip is another local who frequently offers free meals online: wood-fired pizza, pastas, lasagna.
“I like to cook and I like to share and it’s good that it can help people who are struggling a little bit at the moment, because we all are,” says Ryan.
Initially, Ryan had wanted to volunteer with Reaching Out in the Inner West, but he didn’t have a car to transport the cooked meals.
“I still really wanted to do it,” he says. “So I thought, I’m just going to post it on here.”
He estimates he’s made over 5000 meals in the last few months.
“I only do it when I have the capacity emotionally, financially, in terms of time. I’m not a rich man, so I do what I can when I can, and I think that’s kind of everyone’s responsibility to do that.”
Since moving from the north to the inner west, Jed says he’s noticed a strong sense of community.
“You’re more likely to have a conversation with your neighbours – and not just your next door neighbours but I mean in general, people that live around you.”
It’s a sentiment reflected online, where community members can ask for what they need and others can give what they can.
“There are people that are doing much more meaningful stuff than I am,” says Ryan, pointing to the essential work done by groups like Reaching Out.
Yet small actions and offerings in community spaces, even online, can make a difference.
In a recent post from an anonymous member requesting support for advice and a meal, Ryan says the community response was “super inspiring.”
“The amount of people that was like, I’ve got this, I’ve heard this, do you want this?”
“I feel like there’s a lot of people helping each other out.”
