Harvest Rain Christian Care is a registered charity which provides both food relief services to people experiencing food insecurity, and employment and work skills training opportunities for disadvantaged unemployed people from across the Ipswich region. Accessing 8 tonnes of rescued food per week from supermarkets, SecondBite Food Connect, FoodBank Queensland through our Community Kitchen (which employs 26 unemployed people each year as full time trainees to prepare 2000+ pre-cooked meals for distribution to food insecure and vulnerable households) and our Community Food Coop which provide support and assistance in the form of free fruit and vegetables, bread and dairy products and low cost food hampers to more than 3000 people each week.

The focus of this project is to assist in the fitout of a new Regional Rescued Food Hub which when completed, will act as a food pantry for the more than 120 community groups and agencies assisting needy families across the Ipswich West Moreton Region.
The Ipswich West Moreton region is significantly disadvantaged compared to Queensland as a whole. 33% of households in the region (2022 population: 355,700 people) with up to 33.7% of the population classified Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage as being the most disadvantaged measure, and 27.5% of the population in Quintile 2, the second-most disadvantaged marker – meaning that approximately 99,600 people are deemed to be food vulnerable. In the main these people are provided emergency welfare food support by small community agencies, church groups and other agencies who provide them with food hampers, emergency food supplies and other assistance. To obtain food supplies volunteers from these groups need to travel to bulk warehouses such as Foodbank Queensland in Morningside – a weekly 160km round trip from Chuwar – or a 300km round trip from Gatton. With fuel costs in excess $2 per litre – a weekly cost in fuel alone of $50 – $75 making the trip uneconomic for most agencies meaning they can no longer access these warehouses. The development of this new food warehouse, with our strategic location adjacent to the Warrego Highway will provide the capacity to offer low cost bulk food to local community groups across the region, and service this urgent need in the Ipswich West Moreton community. These communities were also amongst the most severely impacted by flood devastation in both 2011 and 2022 and remain at high risk of possible future natural disasters.
The first stage of our project (for which this grant is sought) and due for completion by June 2024 involves the upgrade of existing buildings on our Chuwar property to provide ambient food storage capacity for 30 pallets of ambient food; 15 pallets of refrigerated food and 15 pallets of frozen food each week – sufficient to cater for up to 50 community agencies (an estimated 2,000 families per week).
The completed second stage of the project – due for completion in 2026 will see an expansion of the hub to handle up to 220 pallets of rescued food per week – enough to assist 120 community agencies each week and provide food assistance to 20,000 food at risk people.

IPSWICH HEALTHY HAMPERS FOOD CO OP

Online hamper ordering coming soon!

Ipswich Healthy Hampers Coop is a food coop available to anyone in the community wanting to stretch their dollars and save money on food and groceries. For just $10 per year membership per family or household you can SAVE $$$ every week on your food essentials – filling a hamper basket from the wide range of grocery items available to suit your family’s needs. Spend just $10 on a hamper and you can also add FREE fresh fruit and vegetables; FREE Bread and Bakery Items; FREE milk and a range of other FREE products – potentially creating a hamper valued in excess of $50 or $60 for around $20!!! Stock levels vary from week to week depending on season and supply.

The Co-Op is open on Tuesday 10.00am to 2.00pm; Wednesday 10.00am to 2.00pm; Thursday 10.00am to 5.00pm; and Friday 10.00am to 2.00pm.

Cash and EFTPOS (Visa and Mastercard) accepted. Please bring your own bags.

You can find us with a smile and ready for a chat in the Community Centre building at Tivoli Drive In, 50 Coal Road, Chuwar QLD 4306. Connect with the Ipswich Healthy Hampers Food Co-Op on Facebook and Instagram @ipswichhealthyhampers

FROZEN MEALS PROJECT

With funding support through the Queensland Government Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative, Tivoli Social Enterprises Limited employ unemployed people in Hospitality Industry Work Skills traineeships. As part of this program trainees work in the fully equipped Tivoli Drive In commercial kitchen preparing more than 2000+ wholesome pre-cooked and frozen meals per week.

These meals are distributed to hundreds of families across Ipswich through a network of community groups and charities and are also available to families at a nominal cost through our Ipswich Healthy Hampers Coop.

SKILLING QUEENSLANDERS FOR WORK

WORK TRAINEESHIP PROJECTS

With funding support through the Queensland Government’s Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative Tivoli Social Enterprises provides employment and work skills training opportunities to up to 72 long term and/or youth unemployed people each year in either Conservation, Construction, Hospitality or Business traineeships. Since 2005 we have provided employment for more than 500 unemployed people and have successfully assisted more than 80% of them to transition into ongoing business or trade apprenticeships or other employment.

SQW Trainee Participants in Construction have assisted in renovating or constructing a number of community assets at Tivoli Drive In – including the Tivoli Community Café; the Tivoli Community Centre Food Coop and Skills Training Centre and the new Tivoli Community Outdoor Events stage and our Business Trainees have planned and successfully staged a wide range of community events – including our annual Christmas Festival; innovative school holiday programs and successful Corporate / Community Fundraiser events which have benefitted a range of community groups and charities in the Ipswich region. In addition to preparing over 2500 precooked frozen meals per week for distribution to families across Ipswich, our Hospitality Trainees have also gained great skills in catering for a variety of community events at Tivoli Drive In.

All trainees are employed full time for 20 weeks during which they also receive formal certified training through our preferred RTO Axiom College, and ongoing support and mentoring to assist them transition into their chosen career.