As Australia’s largest charity kitchen, FareShare transforms rescued and donated ingredients into nutritious meals for people experiencing food insecurity and hardship.

Due to the rising cost of everyday essentials and severe weather events, demand for the organisation’s meals has never been higher with 460,000 households in Queensland experiencing hunger in the past 12 months, many for the first time.

Throughout the month, RACQ held a festive food drive for staff to donate ingredients and employees also volunteered to cook meals in FareShare’s Morningside kitchen in Brisbane.

RACQ Community and Sponsorships Manager Melanie Calzavara said 97 RACQ employees, including Group CEO David Carter and the executive team, volunteered their time to cook nutritious meals alongside FareShare’s chefs.

“From preparing ingredients to packing meals, our employees volunteered across all levels of the business to help ensure everyone could enjoy a nutritious meal during the holidays,” Ms Calzavara said.

“Our teams volunteered more than 330 hours and were able to prepare a phenomenal 12,946 meals to feed Queenslanders in need.

“Beyond the statistics, it was the care, teamwork and genuine dedication of our volunteers to help others that made this initiative truly meaningful.”

Through RACQ’s holiday campaign its members, stakeholders and employees were also able to ‘cook’ digital meals to donate to Queenslanders experiencing hardship.

“With the help of our community, we were able to donate 20,402 FareShare meals from the digital holiday campaign to help combat food insecurity in Queensland,” Ms Calzavara said.

"Our holiday campaign, employee volunteering and food drive were not just festive initiatives, they were heartfelt contributions from RACQ to the broader Queensland community."

FareShare Corporate Partnerships Director Anita Russell said the impact of RACQ’s work was demonstrated immediately, with many of the prepared meals supporting those affected by Cyclone Jasper.

“FareShare’s first regional delivery for 2024 was to The Queensland Country Women’s Association to replenish their supplies that proved vital in Cooktown’s emergency response to Cyclone Jasper, including meals made by RACQ volunteers in the week leading up to Christmas,” Ms Russell said.

“RACQ’s support could not have been more timely or impactful and made an incredible difference to Queenslanders facing food insecurity over the festive season.

“From the FareShare team, our partner front-line charities and the community members we serve – thank you RACQ.”