Aboriginal health

Mullum Mullum Food Bank

Bronwyn Fenn describes the food bank established at Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place in Ringwood, and the principles of reciprocity on which it was built. Penny Wagstaff, a nurse from EACH Social and Community Health discusses her role as an Indigenous Health Facilitator and her support of the food bank.

Video Transcript

Hi!  My name is Bronwyn and I’m the Health Promotion Officer at Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place. 

A few years ago the community that meets at Mullum Mullum asked us to set up a food bank. They wanted access to fresh fruit and vegetables. We didn’t have funding so we connected up with food rescue groups and now we have over fifty families using the food that would have otherwise gone to waste.

It’s well known that the poor health of Aboriginal people is partly related to an imbalanced diet. This is connected to the loss of Aboriginal lifestyles, low income, educational levels and lack of transportation. 

The food bank is a great way to change this and to promote healthier lifestyles.  

Everyone who uses this service, except the elders and the unwell, is asked to contribute a few hours a month to Mullum Mullum.  They can choose which program that they would like to help out with, depending on their interest and their skills. Everyone has something to offer.  The most important aspect of the model is this principle of giving and receiving. This allows us to shift the focus from welfare dependency to being based on strengthening and empowering community. This model is now being copied in communities around Australia.

The food bank is used to provide health information and to promote other activities and programs. It also gives health workers the opportunity to formally engage with the community, which is an essential part of Aboriginal health delivery.

Community member speaks:   I used to manage but this makes it a lot easier you know. We managed but at a sort of …. it was a lot harder but now it really helps you out you know and a lot of these people have kids and it helps them out too you know.

Volunteer driver speaks:   I just help volunteer like umm I’ll drive over to food bank with Barry, he’s the other volunteer driver, go pick out food, come back here, help Bronwyn sort it out, distribute towards who needs it most, yeah.  I also get a box myself. I have two children and yeah. Well we used to scrape through, yeah, but now like it was really tight with money and…. when I was gonna get food vouchers at least once a month it was a bit yeah, nothing like I couldn’t support my family now this way … it’s a bit easier now, I don’t have that feeling of eegghh!

My name is Penny and I’m a nurse based at Eastern Access Community Health working in the AHPACC program.

The health service brought in priority access for the Aboriginal community and is providing staff with cultural education. But it is still a challenge to engage with the community as some are reluctant to access mainstream services because of historical experiences. This means that it is very important to work in partnership with our local Aboriginal organisation, Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place.

By helping out with the food bank and other programs at Mullum Mullum, I have been able to gradually build up relationships of trust with the community. It means I can be there for them when they feel like asking for help. A lot of the time people are overwhelmed with the other things going on in their life. If you’re worried about your kids, the food on your table or the roof over your head, you aren’t necessarily going to be worried about your blood sugar levels.

Once people are ready to talk about their health problems, I can help them make an appointment and assist them with transport.   We have seen a great increase and a number of Community accessing our services. We believe that the partnership with Mullum Mullum has been crucial to this.

Food bank days are great fun and an opportunity for workers and community alike to catch up for a yarn. They also show how partnerships between Aboriginal and mainstream organisations can help improve outcomes for Aboriginal people.

Community member speaks:   It’s not a take take take thing, I don’t think and umm there are some people of course because ill health or whatever that can’t volunteer well that’s fine. … They’re still welcome to come in and or we’ll have their stuff delivered to ‘em which people do.

I take home food, yes I’m a, I’m a pensioner so yeah. Wednesday is now on the food and stuff, I go home and Wednesday is my cook up day. Stock it in the fridge, in the freezer and that lasts me you know the next fortnight so it’s terrific. Saves me heaps.

And … I’m … I’m really um thrilled that Mullum is here for the community.

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