The Hope Centre’s Illawarra Food Hub will close its doors at the end of the month due to a range of factors described by its CEO as a “perfect storm”.
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Pastor Jeff Dakers said the most “significant” contributing factor was the alleged theft of almost $100,000, which former general manager Lizzie Millar is accused of stealing from the charity.
Millar will be back before court on Friday for a hearing into the fraud; while her son, Benjamin Bond, has also been charged as part of the investigation.
Meantime Mr Dakers claimed that withdrawal of Federal funding, and financial support from Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama councils, had also led to the impending closure.
“Unfortunately due to a number of circumstances beyond our control we will be closing the Hope Centre Illawarra Food Hub at its present location by the end of April,” he said.
“What would be described as a perfect storm, with the withdrawal of Federal funding for our training program together with joint local councils also withdrawing their support, we are very disappointed.
“… The fraud in particular left us without financial back up for sustainability.”
It’s been a labour of love for Mr Dakers and his wife Gally, who started the Hope Centre in 1997 to provide shelter and food for those in need on the streets of Warrawong and surrounding suburbs.
In 2007 their long-term dream was realised when they set up the Illawarra Food Hub – formerly called the Foodbarn – the state’s first, and largest, food rescue supermarket.
Today the Warrawong-based hub rescues in excess of 58 tonnes of food a week, providing over 7000 meals each week to Illawarra families in need.
“We provide supplies for school breakfast programs, for around 40 other local welfare agencies, for churches and community groups as well as quality, cost-effective food for individuals and families in need,” Mr Dakers said.
“Since we’ve opened we’ve had over 100,000 people access our service – some come weekly, others come in emergency situations – to get food at heavily discounted prices.
“There’s people who have been retrenched because of downturns in industry, there’s single parents, there’s pensioners. Anybody in the Illawarra could find themselves on our doorstep through a change in circumstances.”
Customers like Bridgette, who did not wish to give the Mercury her surname, but said the hub had helped her and her husband put food on the table for their five kids.
“We’re a low income family and I’ve been coming here for eight years, every week, to stock up,” she said. “It’s a real shame that it has to close – it’s going to put a real strain on our grocery bill.”
Janelle Trigg, the co-ordinator of St Vincent de Paul Society’s Illawarra High School support program, was also “devastated” by the news.
“Our program feeds 400 students a week in the Illawarra and I don’t know how we will deliver the same type of quality program without the support of the food hub,” she said. “It’s a massive blow to our program, and to the whole Illawarra community.”
Last year the Dakers celebrated after winning the Awards Australia Community Group of the Year 2017. But early this year they realised they could not keep the doors open – even with the support of major retailers like Woolworths, Coles and IGA.
“The council funding dried up around eight months ago – the Federal funding stopped at the end of March and we just couldn’t afford the rent and ongoing running costs,” Mr Dakers said.
“I’m sad, and I’m angry. I think all levels of government need to do some soul searching if an organisation like this that had such an impact on the community is forced to close due to lack of support.”
However Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said the three Illawarra councils had provided the charity a great deal of support – firstly securing the hub a $400,000 infrastructure grant through the EPA, and then providing $50,000 to fund a hub co-ordinator for a year.
“We didn’t commit ourselves to continuing recurrent funding – these were one-off grants,” Councillor Bradbery said.
“I don’t like to see any service going under but it is not the role of the joint organisation of councils to continually be rescuing businesses, or non-government services, which are unable to manage their own affairs.”
Cr Bradbery said he assumed other welfare agencies, like the Wollongong Homeless Hub and Need A Feed, would pick up the demand left by the food hub closure.
“Many agencies redistribute food that has been made available by big food retailers and other organisations,” he said. “These will pick up where the food hub leaves off.”
Meantime the majority of the hub’s stock and assets including office equipment, shelving and freezers must be sold before the end of April, with the organisation to undergo a “restructure and downsize”.
“Our board will make a decision on a restructure – what that will look like down the track, I’m not sure right now,” Mr Dakers said.
