Food For Families has been running for over 30 years. The campaign was started by Leader newspaper, then Wesley Mission Victoria took the lead with the aim of generating more material aid to support increasing demand on services, but no increases in funding.

Food For Families has continued under Uniting branding since 21 UnitingCare agencies, Wesley Mission Victoria and two Uniting Church business units became a single organisation, Uniting in Victoria and Tasmania in July 2017.

The program brings local communities together to donate non-perishable food and household essential items through collections at schools, workplaces and Uniting drop-off points. Food For Families is a great way to get together to make a tangible difference to the lives of individuals and families experiencing hardship and crisis throughout the year.

The food, gifts and household essentials are distributed at our emergency relief, family services and outreach centres across Victoria and Tasmania. Families can select food from our food pantry when times get tough and bills stack up. We also provide food that’s easy to prepare to people experiencing homelessness, either sleeping rough or living in their car.

Everyday we dig deeper to provide support when people need it most. We want to support everyone who comes to us for help – but we can’t do it alone.

We know the need is there with all our emergency relief service seeing a significant increase in people reaching out to us for help. Many have never needed assistance before. In fact, right now one in every five people turning up for food assistance at our services is there for the very first time.