Right neighbourly act saves food initiative

PORTARLINGTON’S laneway food sharing initiative has been thrown a lifeline by neighbours who have offered to house the program in their backyard.

The offer has saved the Food is Free project from going under after organisers were forced to vacate their original laneway location.

Volunteers were given ver- bal permission to use the popular community space before setting up four months ago but were given days to relocate by the landowner, who last week cited public liability issues and the absence of a commercial lease for the change of heart.

The Food is Free Laneway, modelled after a similar project in Ballarat in 2014, offers a safe space for food sharing.

A couple living next to the laneway have since offered to help by letting the volunteers set up a site at the back of their property, which is accessible via the original laneway.

Volunteer Amanda Craik said support for the project had been strengthened by the challenge, with the project’s Facebook group close to reaching 1000 members.

Ms Craik, who relocated to Portarlington eight months ago, said the program had fostered a sense of community and given people from lower socio-economic backgrounds access to fresh food.

“The neighbours said ‘Let’s put it inside the fence and access it via the laneway’, so we out the table in their yard and dragged the garden beds in there with the food growing in it,” she said.

Organiser Rebecca Bride took to social media to share the news, thanking the community of Portarlington for their support of the program since it was founded, and particularly since the eviction.