AFTER struggling to stay open since October, the Holy Cross Tuckerbox, at Hackett, has secured government help with crippling freight costs. 

While the charity food pantry looks secure for the rest of the financial year, worries remain for an uncertain future.

Tuckerbox was started in 2010 as a low-cost, charitable food outlet to support the most marginalised and vulnerable families in the ACT.

Open 50 Saturday afternoons a year and with 400 active members, there are about 300 people a week dependent on the charity. 

But Tuckerbox was struggling to stay open and had been chasing more financial support from the ACT government for months to cover increased freight costs.

“In June of 2022, the cost of transporting a pallet of food from Sydney to Canberra was $69, but now it is $233,” says Tuckerbox chair Simon Clarke, 68.

“Difficulty in getting drivers, and difficulty and cost of getting fuel is really driving the prices up.

“The food for Tuckerbox is sourced through Foodbank NSW and ACT, OzHarvest, and very occasionally through Second Bite and general food donations from the ACT community.”

For the past 12 years, the freight costs for Foodbank orders have been met by an ACT government grant administered initially by the Rotary Club of Canberra City, but these days by St Vincent de Paul.

“The 2022-23 grant was exhausted by October,” Simon says.

“The budget that was allocated was $60,000 and that was exhausted in two months. I don’t know whether they just terribly miscalculated the amount or I don’t know why it was that low, but now it would need to be four or five times that.

Now, the ACT government has confirmed it will cover all freight costs directly with Roadmaster, a national refrigerated transport and supply chain network.

“St Vincent de Paul, in collaboration with the Community Services Directorate have secured additional funding to maintain the Food Assistance Program from March 1 until June 30, 2023,” a statement to community pantries reads.

“There is a meeting scheduled in two weeks for discussion on funding across the next financial year, too,” says Simon.

“It was hard to see any solution that didn’t involve the ACT government supporting us with freight costs at a level that is realistic.”

“Our united voice with other food pantries and Foodbank NSW, and the pressure we put on, made the community services directorate happy, and we finally got the funding,” says Simon.

Simon came to Tuckerbox at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when volunteers older than 70 took a break to avoid getting sick.

“Tuckerbox is run through Holy Cross Anglican Church in Hackett. I go to St Margaret’s Uniting Church and it shares the building,” he says.

“Tuckerbox kept open during COVID-19, obviously with tight restrictions, and two years ago I was asked to take on the role of chair.

“I have this very old-fashioned belief that a society has a responsibility to look after all of its people, not just those that can pay their way, so it’s a sense of being able to give back.”

He says the reality is, unless funding is consistent, the future can quickly turn bleak for the poor and marginalised people in the Canberra community.

“We’ve got reserves that we have had to dip into to pay for the freight, but those reserves had been marked for things like new freezers and extensions to the building. If a freezer dies you’re looking at $8000 to $10,000 to replace it.”

Hopeful that a meeting on March 7 to discuss future funding will go well, Simon wants to remind the government that the needs of these citizens will not just go away.

“There is an urgent need for an ongoing plan and quick action. Most of the people accessing these services have nowhere else to turn. We need action and we need it quickly.

“What is the alternative? If you force people into poverty, you’re forcing people into situations where illegal things will go on, or other equally unpalatable things go on, and how much more will that cost?”

For the whole of 2022, Simon says Tuckerbox received 11,389 kilograms of food from OzHarvest, and 55,000 kilograms from Foodbank NSW and ACT.

To donate or help, email tuckerbox@holycrosshackett.org.au.