Evolution of the ASRC food security program

In March 2015 the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) launched the Food Justice Truck with a vision to guarantee access to high quality and affordable food for people seeking asylum in Melbourne.

With an effective crowd funding campaign and incredible volunteer support, over the past two and a half years the truck has delivered over $254,000 of fresh food to people seeking asylum through the offer of a 75% discount on fresh food sold from the truck. Incredibly, it has also engaged over 10,000 members of the general public to understand more about the challenges faced by people seeking asylum around food security, barriers to safety and the process of applying for protection.

Over the past six months, the team have been critically analysing the impact of the truck on food security of people seeking asylum in the community, as well as its social impact and financial viability.  Following this, the truck’s project team has been working to implement changes to the operation of the truck that would help reduce costs while striving to increase impact. Strong progress has been made, however this work highlighted the current model is not sufficiently scalable to meet the geographic need for people seeking asylum across Melbourne to access affordable, fresh food.

The decision has been made to cease operation of the Food Justice Truck in its current capacity and to explore alternative models to meet these food security challenges, focussing on reach and accessibility for those most in need.

Work has begun on defining the most impactful evolution of the ASRC’s response to the provision of affordable, nutritious food for people seeking asylum. We look forward to sharing our plans for 2018 in the near future.