By Laura Michell
A Hoppers Crossing food bank helping more than 80 families each week has been forced to close its doors.
The Project Juan food bank has been operating from Central Park Community Centre on Tuesdays for the past four years.
The food bank is run by a team of volunteers who collect fresh food from Foodbank in Yarraville every Monday and place it in storage at the community centre until Tuesday.
Earlier this year, the Project Juan team decided to operate the food bank on a fortnightly basis in an effort to ease the demand on the group’s six volunteers.
It has since been told its storage space at Central Park Community Centre will be rented to another group.
Project Juan volunteer Manny Viado said the loss of the storage space meant the food bank was closed on July 30.
“Without storage, we cannot run,” he said.
“We will be forced to close. We don’t want to close it.
“When we announced the decision to our recipients last week, they were not happy.”
Mr Viado said the food bank had recorded a significant increase in demand for its services in recent times, as the cost of living continues to rise.
He said the group had tried to find another home but had been unable to secure a premises with storage space.
“We want to continue offering this service but we don’t have a home,” Mr Viado said.
“We are a small organisation with good intentions.”
Central Park Community Centre is run by the Wyndham Community and Education Centre (WCEC), which said it was working closely with the group to accommodate its needs.
