Emergency food giveaway on Sunday

Chobani managing director Lyn Radford and FoodBank chief communications officer Matt Tilley at the free food drive-through in July. 288199_01 Picture: GARY SISSONS

An emergency food drive-through is set to open again pre-Christmas at Chobani’s warehouse in Dandenong South.

Foodbank will be giving away free hampers of fresh vegies and pantry essentials as well as Chobani yoghurts from 11am on Sunday 4 December.

It’s sure to be a repeat of the massive lines of drivers that swarmed for free food hampers at the factory five months ago.

Foodbank Victoria chief executive Dave McNamara said the emergency relief was in response to unprecedented levels of “severe food insecurity” for Victorians ahead of Christmas.

Households had suffered under surging interest rates as well as food, rent and energy costs, he said.

“In the last fifteen years, I have never seen a situation like this.

“Not only are some of our largest charities reporting that they’ve moved from feeding 1,000 people a week to 1,400 people a week, but our distribution has also gone up 21 per cent – which is unheard of in the context of those fifteen years.”

The drive-through is at Chobani, 18-20 Quality Drive, Dandenong South on Sunday 4 December, 11am. Hampers are free, no questions asked.