Jordan River Service Inc - Waterbridge Food Co-Op

Building the capacity of the Waterbridge Food Co-Op to increase community reach and sustainability.

The Waterbridge Food Co-Op is improving the health and nutrition outcomes for local communities through a range of activities including meal production, cooking programs, community garden activities and access to fresh garden produce.

The first Community Innovations Grant has allowed Waterbridge to expand its reach through a website offering online ordering, payment and delivery options, and through increasing the number of local suppliers.

Volunteers and participants have been engaged across all components of Waterbridge’s services (cooking, pantry and community gardens) – increasing their skills and knowledge as well as forming new relationships and friendships. Skills and knowledge have also been developed in areas such as cooking, literacy and numeracy, customer service, money handling, computer literacy, photography, gardening, composting, food safety, stock control and meal preparation.

Data gathered throughout the project has indicated an increase in people’s access to healthy food options and additionally addressed social isolation issues. It has also indicated the need for the model to expand into other communities by engaging with service providers in those communities.

In the future, Waterbridge plans to expand services to more communities, build a mobile service, purchase a cool room and continue to develop partnerships.

Links:

• Waterbridge Food Co-op website
• Jordan River Inc / Bridgewater Community Centre Facebook
• 9 March 2019 - ABC Article: The community food co-op feeding one of Tasmania's most disadvantaged suburbs

image:   Waterbridge Food Co-Op: $40 veggie box and ready-made meals.