Tony Saunders and Michael Quarrell have been volunteering with food rescue organisation Secondbite for four years. They rescue edible, nutritious food that was heading for landfill and give it to people in need, free of charge. 

“I have always been a person that doesn’t believe in waste,” Mr Quarrell said.

He visits Ballarat supermarkets on a Monday and Wednesday collecting surplus food and delivering it to the kitchen at Ballarat Community Health’s Lucas site. 

“On Monday we go to Coles Sebastopol, Aldi Sebastopol, then down to Safeway in Eastwood complex then we call in a Lucas’s,” Mr Saunders said. 

Six volunteers collect food from supermarkets five mornings a week and deliver it to Ballarat Community Health’s Lucas and Sebastopol sites.

Other volunteers then separate and sort the food into crates before it is distributed to 17 community food programs.

Another group cook for the soup bus on Thursday. 

BCH health promotion officer Melissa Farrington said Secondbite’s policy was to collect fresh and nutritious food, with fruit, vegetables and bread the most common collection items. 

Ballarat Community Health collected and redistributed 23,000 kg of food through Secondbite last year. Other organisations in Ballarat also collect food through the Secondbite program. 

The soup bus, and school cooking programs receive food through Secondbite, as well as childcare and kindergartens that offer food for struggling families to take home. 

“We also put excess food out in the food swap out in our foyer at Ballarat Community Health Lucas and at the Sebastopol site. People can come in and take some food home and they can bring excess produce from their own garden to share,” Ms Farrington said. 

The Secondbite program has been running for four years at the Lucas hub and two years prior at Victoria Street. 

“It gives a good feeling to know you are getting something that can be used for other people,” Mr Quarrell said. 

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