By Cristina Garcia Mons.

SecondBite is a not-for-profit organisation that collects fresh food that would otherwise go to landfill and redistribute it to people who are homeless, living in disadvantaged circumstances or experiencing food security issues in the community.

They were officially established in 2005 in Victoria and Tasmania. In July 2011 they began operating inĂ‚ Queensland, where by year’s end they had redistributed 9.5 tonnes of fresh food to local community programs.

Premier of Queensland, Campbell Newman, unequivocally threw his support behind SecondBite.

“It’s a sad irony that Queensland produces some of the best food in the world yet we also have people who, for a variety of reasons, struggle to put a nutritious meal on the table every day.”

“More than 53 donors, including supermarkets, producers and markets, are regularly donating fresh food to SecondBite and I would like to see more outlets get on board with the program,” Mr Newman said.

Elanie Montegriffo, SecondBite CEO, said that there was a huge demand for their services in Brisbane and SecondBite was actively seeking more food donors to help them meet the need in the local community. In Queensland 478,734 people are living below poverty line because the price of the essentials (utilities, food, transport, rent) has increased in the last years, and also because the gap between wealthy and poor people is increasing.

“Our realistic target for the current financial year is to collect and redistribute 300,000kgs fresh food – which equates to 600,000 hearty nutritious 500g meals – and with more support we can increase this.”

“Already 69 local community food programs are receiving regular deliveries of fresh, nutritious food from SecondBite and we have secured over 53 food donors including supermarkets, producers and markets,” she said.

West End based group Community Friends is one of the programs that are receiving food from SecondBite. They provide approximately 1000 free meals per fortnight (fresh and frozen) to homeless people and to those at risk of being homeless. They also provide counselling and supply free clothes, sheets, blankets, shoes, etc.

Community Friends is working in different areas arounf inner Brisbane, including the CBD, West End, Highgate Hill, South Brisbane, and Fairfield. They also support people in Logan when they have sufficient products to share around. Most of the volunteers of this program are people who were formerly homeless.