Core program:
Staple foods
One of the biggest challenges we face is to provide welfare groups with ongoing supplies of the staple foods most in demand by the state's needy, including bread, breakfast cereal, long-life milk, baked beans, rice, pasta, soups and canned foods.
To achieve this we've developed several programs in partnership with food businesses and other organisations. Each year we focus on increasing our range of foods by developing more programs.
Core program:
School breakfast and nutrition programs
Going to school hungry can affect a child's ability to concentrate, to learn and to achieve. Yet this is what happens to thousands of schoolchildren in South Australia each day. To help combat child hunger, Foodbank SA provides food for school breakfast and nutrition programs run by Australian Red Cross, Save the Children Australia, Rotary and many other welfare groups.
We are involved in programs in more than 100 schools in urban, rural and outback communities, which provide more than 130,000 children's meals and snacks each year.
Core program:
Christmas hampers
Foodbank SA's annual Christmas hamper program is a massive logistical operation. This year we have sourced about 130 tonnes of groceries – including Christmas celebratory foods – which are packed into more than 10,000 hampers for the needy. Half of the foods are donated by food companies and we have to buy the rest at the best price we can.
It's the largest charity hamper program in the state and it involves more than 60 companies who donate food, cash and services. As well, hundreds of South Australians volunteer their time to pack the hampers each year.
Core program:
Hospitality program
For the hospitality industry, excess food is a fact of life and is impossible to eliminate entirely. However, that doesn't mean quality, edible foods need be wasted. The Adelaide Convention Centre has become the first partner in our new hospitality program, in which the chefs cook, pack and freeze surplus food from events for donation to Foodbank.
Developed in consultation with the Department of Health, the program provides high quality meals that need only be thawed and reheated by people in need – and it reduces the amount of food waste going to landfill.