More and more people are struggling with the costs of day-to-day life in the Western Region and to local organisations such as St Vincent De Paul, the Salvo’s and other church organisations this is becoming glaringly obvious by the number of people who are approaching these organisations for help.

The 3CN church in Nyngan is running a fortnightly ‘Foodbank’ on alternate Thursdays where community members can come in and get what they need for free or at reduced prices, helping people in times of need.

“3CN Church commenced our Foodbank program in September 2022. Previously Oz Harvest mobile market had been using our hall but stopped coming after funding ran out for the service,” said church representative Michael Dutschke.

“We had been providing food vouchers since the drought to struggling families in the community and with the loss of the Mobile Market we saw the need for assistance and realised that something had to be done,” he said.

“We spoke with the church and other local services and decided to look into getting ‘Foodbank’ running in Nyngan. We sought out other organisations that were running it in their towns for ideas and did all the necessary registrations and from there contacted the local ‘Tritton’ Mine, who kindly donated funds for our initial stock purchase and the rest is history.”

The food is ordered from an online ordering portal and is packaged and sent from a warehouse in Sydney.

“We have a great team of volunteers both church and community members that help us out with the services,” according to Mr. Dutschke.

“My wife Janene is the overseer, who does the ordering and pricing. The goods arrive on a truck to our local Hardware store who then deliver it to us. We have a group of four people come in to help with unpacking boxes, filling shelves and helping with checkout,” he said.

Feeding a community.

The Church is charged a service fee for the products, depending on the best before or use by date. A point value is worked out for each item to cover the Church’s costs.

“The community take what they want from the shelves and then one of the volunteers works out how many points and converts into dollars – which is equivalent to 1 point = 1 dollar. Most items are between 1 – 2 dollars. Bread and vegetables are free.”

According to Mr.Dutschke the service is open to everyone and is very well patronised.

“There is no requirements to be met to attend the ‘Foodbank’, said Mr. Dutschke. “We are so happy to provide the service and it is obvious it has made a real difference to people struggling with the rising costs of living,” he added.

“I would say the biggest percentage of people attending would be pensioners and families with young children.”

The Christian Community centre (3CN) is part of the Australian Christian Churches and commenced in Nyngan in 2008, with Mr.Dutschke at the helm since its inception, and the church aims to assist the community in whatever way possible.

“The organisation welcomes donations of excess fruit or veges on their trees in season and appreciates donations to help towards hampers that are given away on a regular basis to those that are really struggling,” said Mr.Dutschke.

“We are so appreciative of the 3CN Church for the work they do in our community,” says Bogan Shire Mayor Glen Neill.

“They are providing a service that is sadly meeting a need in our community we wish wasn’t there. With their vision and proactive work they are making a real difference to lives of people in our community.”