Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently I had the opportunity to visit The People's Pantry in Woy Woy to see firsthand the incredible work this organisation and its volunteers are doing to support vulnerable community members and reduce food wastage. The People's Pantry is a not-for-profit organisation with the objective of helping provide quality groceries at affordable prices and salvaging otherwise good produce and grocery items from ending up in landfill.

The People's Pantry works alongside local supermarkets as well as Foodbank and SecondBite to prevent groceries or produce from ending up in the bin. Open every Monday and Wednesday, the service helped over 3,000 people in 2024 and saved a whopping 22,000 kilograms of food from ending up in landfill sites.

I would like to thank the following volunteers: Jo-Anne Barron, Yeshe Thubten, Shauntelle Wana, Veronica Baker, the late Gary Hayward, Angela O'Donnell, Gayle Hartley, Christopher Bryden, Peter Wade-Ferrill, Mick and Joy Ball, Sandy Shapley, Angela Carswell, Jennifer Jackson, Susan Giaquinto, Samantha Young, Brian Dawson, Libby Rhys-Jones, Zoe Zhao, Aysha Basheer, Kerry Jarman and Michael O'Donnell. To the phenomenal food rescue project officer, Fiona MacPhail: thank you for the support that you provide. Thank you to Erica Harker in food pantry accounts and ordering. And to CEO Vivian Muraahi: thank you for your leadership, advocacy and dedication to our Central Coast community.