Warm Up Winter campaign launched to support the 500,000 Victorians struggling to meet the cost of living

Foodbank Victoria has launched its Warm Up Winter campaign this month, aiming to raise $100,000 for the 500,000 Victorians struggling to meet the cost of living. 

Foodbank Victoria is the state’s oldest and largest food relief organisation that delivers nutritious, healthy food to people experiencing hardship. 

Foodbank estimates that 1,725,000 meals will be required to feed Victorians doing it tough this winter. 

Statistics   

• 526,700 Victorians are living below the poverty line 
• Approximately 90,000 of these people are children 
• 11.4% of people in Melbourne live below the poverty line 
• 12.9% of regional Victorians live below the poverty line 
• 29% of households in poverty had a wage earner as the main income 
• 25% of sole parent households are in poverty 

To help raise awareness of how urgently food is needed, Foodbank Victoria has partnered with JMC Academy to create a series of short films to launch the annual fundraising campaign. 

The short films, which can be viewed at Foodbank Victoria’s YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/FoodbankVictoria illustrate the individual stories of Victorian's living in crisis who rely on food relief for a regular meal, including single mothers, pensioners and individuals, who after paying the bills, may have less than $20 a week to feed themselves. The films also demonstrate how much work is involved to get food onto the plate, to highlight the growing need for financial assistance to continue to provide fresh produce to food agencies. 

Hollywood filmmaker and Producer of the upcoming Michael Hutchinson biopic Two World’s Colliding, Bobby Galinski, donated his wealth of experience to the students to capture the hardship experienced by so many Victorians on a daily basis. 

How the community can help

• Visit www.warmupwinter.org.au 
• Donate what you can to help feed Victorians living in crisis
• Share the short films via Facebook and Twitter to raise awareness of the work of Foodbank with the hashtag #warmupwinter

For more information, to donate and view the short films visit:

www.warmupwinter.org.au