In the past year, Gateway Care has seen two notable trends at its Helen Street Caloundra West store – a surge in clientele and many who are new to needing assistance.

With over 1200 customers relying on discounted groceries each week, the volunteer-driven social enterprise is looking for more help.

General Manager Quinton Litchfield said the at least 10 to 15 more regular volunteers were required to keep its food rescue organisation functioning.

“With the rising cost of living there are more people than ever suffering from food insecurity who rely on our shop to keep food on the table at home,” Mr Litchfield said.

“There is a misconception that those doing it tough will be easy to pick out in a crowd – that they will be the homeless person sleeping on the street.

“In reality, Caloundra has a growing number of working poor – people who go to work every day, who have jobs, who have houses and who, despite working hard, can no longer make ends meet – they can’t afford food for the table.”

Mr Litchfield said Gateway Care was committed to building connections that combat isolation, providing sustenance to ease hunger, and promoting a culture of care that enhances community well-being and protects the environment.

“There are people needing our services now who have never required assistance before – they can be so embarrassed to even come in and see us for the first time and it can be a difficult step to take to ask for help,” he said.

“But we offer more than just discounted groceries for those on a low income, we offer the power of social inclusion and connection, and we believe that no one should face life alone.”

The service “rescues” on average 40,000 kg of food each week from local supermarkets and food suppliers.

Much of the donated food is near ‘use by’ or ‘best before dates’.

“This benefits those in need and our environment by saving this waste from going to landfill,” Mr Litchfield said.

“But logistically there is a lot we need to do to pick up the food and to bring it in and get it ready for sale and then to serve our customers.

“With the extra needs in the community for our service we have extra needs within Gateway for assistance to continue to provide this service.”

Mr Litchfield said many of Gateways regular volunteers were bolstered by their work with Gateway.

“We have volunteers who get so much out of just coming here to help – by helping others they are really helping themselves too, for many, it keeps them going,” he said.

“The issue is, most volunteers can only give a few hours of their time per week around other commitments, so we require around 10 to 15 more members of our volunteer team for regular and consistent volunteering.”

Volunteer opportunities include:

• Truck Drivers to make food rescue missions by driving the truck and collecting food donations
• Passenger Assistants to support the drivers by helping with navigation and loading/unloading food
• Food Centre Helpers: To sort and distribute food in the low-cost food centre including  working on registers, assisting in the cold room, or even giving customers with mobility issues a ride to their car in a golf buggy.

For more information email [email protected] to get involved.