Speaking on a visit to Warrnambool and District Food Share, Mr McNamara said despite the perception that most of those who needed food aid were homeless, the majority were families.

“The really important thing that people need to understand is that hunger is not people on the street, it’s someone that could be in your street. It’s one in 10 Australians, in Victoria it’s 550,000-plus Victorians, 180,000 of those are kids that don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” he said.

“Homeless people is the smallest demographic that we’re helping. The largest demographic by far is working families.”

Mr McNamara said organisations like Warrnambool and District Food Share helped break down barriers and spread awareness about the need for food hampers in the south-west, while also providing much-needed practical support.

“We want to raise awareness in the local community that there are people struggling, there are people who can’t feed their kids, there are kids going to school hungry,” he said.

Mr McNamara said Foodbank figures showed on average a 20 per cent increase in distribution over the past five years.

“Demand, we think, is around 28 per cent on top of that. We know that our agencies are turning away over 8000 people a month because there’s no food,” he said.

“It’s ridiculous that food insecurity exists in Victoria. We should all have access to healthy food.”

Warrnambool and District Food Share executive officer Dedy Friebe said Mr McNamara’s visit helped highlight how far the organisation had come.

“Foodbank is a tremendous ally to us, they were instrumental in seeding funding, but like all Food Shares we had to stand on our own two feet,” he said.

“It’s very important for us to show Foodbank that the concept that they established here in Warrnambool, the response by the community was very positive and it’s terrific to be able to show David the growth and depth.

“This is David’s dream and we’ve turned it into something really quite powerful.” 

Mr McNamara said the work of organisations like Food Share was spreading an important message.

“If people feel safe and secure and like they’re being cared for... then they are more willing and able to share their story and more people will see that they’re just like me, it just takes some bad luck, or a mistake and they could be in the same position,” he said.