From rescued food this morning to dinner tonight 

Every week, thousands of kilograms of rescued food are helping people facing hardship put food on the table across Melbourne’s outer east. 

Behind that impact is an inspiring volunteer-run hub,  Outer East Foodshare (OEF), operating from a from a former kindergarten in the Melbourne suburb of Wantirna. 
 
The dedicated team of around 80 volunteers at Outer East Foodshare (OEF) collect surplus food from local supermarkets, as well as receiving deliveries of SecondBite donated produce and ready-to-eat meals from our FareShare kitchen. 
 
They then sort and pack that food, so it can be distributed to around 50 charities from the outer eastern suburbs – who share it with people facing hardship. 
 
OEF have received more than 120,000 kgs of food rescued through SecondBite, and more than 6,400 FareShare meals, since the partnership began in 2024. 
 

Hub sorts and distributes thousands of kilograms of rescued food 

When the SecondBite teams visit OEF it is always a hive of activity.  

Volunteers collect food from local supermarkets and stores with the OEF van – including Coles and Nando’s through SecondBite’s Community Connect program – and they also receive a weekly delivery of rescued food from the SecondBite truck. 

Rescued food is wheeled down on trolleys into the main room at OEF and quickly and efficiently sorted by the dedicated volunteers and packed into tailored hampers. The hampers are then collected by charity partners to be shared through food relief programs.  

Thousands of kilograms of rescued food can be sorted and distributed to charity partners through the hub each weekday, and even on the weekends the hardworking volunteers are still collecting and delivering rescued food.  

Rescued food is collected and shared on the same day 

Marilyn Lambert, OEF Hub Coordinator said they aimed for high turnover of the rescued and donated food – so the food could be collected from supermarkets and stores, distributed to charities and shared with people struggling in need on the same day. 

“What’s lovely, it (food) comes in this morning and it’s sorted, out and on families’ tables for dinner tonight” 

Marilyn, OEF Hub Coordinator

Alan Heath from ADRA Wantirna collects SecondBite rescued food and FareShare meals from OEF and said they were a valuable addition to their food relief program. 

When the SecondBite team met Alan at OEF he had a trolley full of SecondBite food -rescued from Coles supermarkets – and FareShare meals that he was taking back to ADRA. 

“This (food) will be helping to feed about 150 people, about 50 families, so it’s really great – it’s brilliant”

Alan, ADRA Wantirna

Hear from OEF Hub Coordinator Marilyn and Alan from ADRA 

OEF supports food relief programs at a range of agencies – including charities, churches, kindergartens, schools, community meal programs, soup kitchens, domestic violence support programs and First Nations organisations.  

Marilyn said the OEF team tailored the rescued food hampers for the different needs of the charities and organisations they distributed food to – such as providing culturally relevant food for communities who needed halal food or liked lots of spices or alternative flours to cook with.  

“We try and match food to agencies needs and wants. We go to a fair bit of effort to try and sort out (food), according to what the agencies do, how big they are, how often they either have lunches or hampers or pantries”

Marilyn OEF Hub Coordinator

Food relief hubs like Outer East Foodshare play a vital role in helping SecondBite food reach thousands of people struggling to put food on the table. 

Donate today to SecondBite and help us provide rescued food to more inspiring charity partners like Outer East FoodShare. 

Omesh from Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation collects FareShare meals and SecondBite produce from OEF.