Food is Free Numurkah founder Nicole Wells said a free food pantry was started at the Numurkah Community House and Garden almost two years ago as a way of using vegetables from the garden.
It grew into a place where people could share food from their own gardens as well as other food or items for which they did not have a need.
People could take the food they needed, or swap it for some of their own vegetables, fruit or other food.
Then, during the first Victorian COVID-19 lockdown, Mrs Wells set up another food stand out the front of her own home in McDonald St, Numurkah, as she was finding it hard to have the time to get to the community house with the spare produce she had.
After the lockdown finished, she had several letters and messages from people asking her to continue the stand.
“A lot of elderly people asked for it,” she said.
What started initially as a “rickety table” out the front of Mrs Wells’ house, has grown into a proper food stand.
“It’s about repurposing and being sustainable,” she said.
While one of the main aims of the food stands is to help people who may not be able to afford the food themselves, Mrs Wells is quick to point out that everyone is welcome to take food.
“Food is Free is about connection. You don’t need to be struggling financially to use the free pantry,” she said.
“We want lots of people using it, so there’s no shame to using it,” she said.
Mrs Wells said the Food is Free stands aimed to bring people together, and also to stop food waste.
“People with home gardens can have an abundance of food (ripen) all at once,” she said.
During the summer school holidays, the stalls also had food donated by Aldi to give away.
The food was either close to or past its `best before’ date, but was still good to be used if it was eaten straight away.
“We had hundreds of kilograms of food,” Mrs Wells said.
“A lot of it would have (otherwise) gone in the bin.
“It was great for human consumption.”
Mrs Wells said people could also buy items to donate to the stands such as laundry powder, shampoo, toothpaste, socks and hats — items some members of the community could not afford to buy for themselves.
The stands at the community house at 13 Murray Ave and outside Mrs Wells’ house at 10 McDonald St are both open 24 hours a day and people can visit to pick up or drop off items whenever it suits them.
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