On Wednesday, Acting Premier John Barilaro committed $630,000 to Foodbank to ensure regional charities have the same access to low-cost groceries as their metro counterparts. 

Sapphire Community Pantry coordinator Christine Welsh said they are currently charged $55 per pallet for transporting groceries from Sydney to Bega, so not having that fee any longer would be of great benefit.

“That’s an extra $55 worth of food we can get each time, or where before we had to be very selective in what we ordered because of the cost and local demand, we can potentially take a bit more of a risk now,” she said.

“It [$55] doesn’t sound like much, but we have to build it into the cost we charge customers.”

Ms Welsh said milk was a good example. Each litre container of milk costs the charity 70c, on top of which transport costs have to be factored in.

However, given supermarkets sell their home branded UHT milks for less than $1, the pantry undercuts that “otherwise what’s the point”.

“It means we’re actually losing money on milk, which is such an important nutritional item for customers,” Ms Welsh said.

“Now [with no transport fee] we can at least be breaking even.

“We’re all volunteers and not for profit – it’s a cost-recovery process only – but with rent for the premises and electricity bills etc, we have to be very careful with our dollars.”

Mr Barilaro, who is also Minister for Regional NSW, said by helping Foodbank in this way, regional charities will have more money in their pockets to buy more food, and in turn deliver more food relief to people in need.

“This funding support for Foodbank means charities in regional and rural areas will no longer be slugged additional transport fees for the food supplies that feed our most vulnerable,” Mr Barilaro said.

“Charities in regional areas do such critical work, so to me, it was important that they were put on equal footing to those operating in the city, and weren’t disadvantaged because of their location.”

Meanwhile, Sapphire Community Pantry is looking to extend its trading hours to accommodate more patrons – and to do so needs additional volunteers.

On suggestions from customers, Ms Welsh said the pantry wants to extend its current hours of 11am until 2pm on a Thursday to also include 4-6pm on Thursdays, and Tuesdays from 11am until 1pm.

Extra hands to assist on those days/hours would be welcomed, she said.

“We keep hearing from our volunteers how fantastic it is to be here and to give back to the community,” Ms Welsh said.

“Not everything is about dealing with customers if you prefer not to – just as long as you’re not judgmental about the people who come here.

“Even an hour or two would be helpful to assist with our roster.”

Anyone interested can contact Ms Welsh and the pantry on 0438 407 364, or scpantry@gmail.com.