Necessity is the mother of invention. As the pandemic restrictions start to bite into the economy, small catering businesses along with retrenched workers are beginning to feel serious pressure on day-to-day living.
Looking at the anguish descending upon the community, local resident, Amy DePaolo had an idea. What if funds could be raised to pay for meals from these businesses and provide them to families that have had their weekly income cut. Food Link was born.
Amy approached the Greater Shepparton Foundation and the Fairley Foundation who agreed to put up $5000 to get the ball rolling.
Now in its second week, the program has been able to negotiate and buy 100 meals each week. This week, the supply business was the Little Gourmet Food Company who prepared more than 100 serves of beef lasagne and vegetable for Food Link.
Food Link provides the meals to various agencies around the city who have access to databases of those in need and were then able to distribute them.
Amy hopes to run the program for at least 12 to 14 weeks with support from community donations. As word has got out, more and more donations have been coming forward. Greater Shepparton Foundation have offered to manage the collection and payment of the funds.
More information can be found on the Food Link Shepparton Facebook page.
