Support for rural & regional communities

The Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) has entered a new three-year partnership with the Kellogg Australia Charitable Foundation (KACF) to help tackle food insecurity in vulnerable rural and regional Australian communities.

FRRR is the only national foundation specifically focused on ensuring the social and economic strength of remote, rural and regional communities across Australia. The not-for-profit organisation provides funding and support at a hyper-local level to develop community-led solutions that are designed to ensure the long-term viability of these communities. Since 2000, it has delivered nearly $115 million to more than 11,000 projects.

KACF was formed in 2007 to support charitable initiatives that promote a healthier world with long term commitments that make a genuine difference. Now, with the new partnership between KACF and FRRR, their combined efforts can help tackle hunger and build resilience in vulnerable rural and regional communities throughout the country.

Over the course of the partnership, KACF will donate $300,000 to support grants going towards low socioeconomic regions in need as well as disadvantaged communities facing high levels of food insecurity.

The funds will be part of FRRR’s Strengthening Rural Communities program, which aims to give small remote, rural and regional communities across Australia an opportunity to access funding to strengthen their vitality and resilience. Grants are flexible and are designed to respond to community-identified priorities, such as food security.

In addition to the KACF funding, Kellogg Australia has also put forward in-kind support in the form of food donations, as well as skilled and unskilled volunteering from its employees.

“The last couple of years have seen so many of our communities facing increasingly difficult times,” says Esme Borgelt, Managing Director Kellogg Australia. “From droughts and bushfires to a global health pandemic, the impact on everyone has been significant, and those hardest hit have been our remote, rural and regional communities.

“Almost a quarter of Australians experiencing food insecurity live in regional or remote areas, and the aim of the KACF partnership with the FRRR is to provide support at a grassroots level to help these communities implement innovative, locally-led solutions.”

With FRRR being the only national foundation centred on social and economic strength in remote, rural and regional Australia, the new partnership will help to tackle food insecurity with the knowledge and experience of local needs by local leaders on the ground.

FRRR CEO Natalie Egleton says the partnership will help to make a meaningful difference, ensuring that support reaches vulnerable communities beyond metropolitan boundaries.

“While the grants will be awarded based on locally-identified community priorities, there will be a focus on supporting food security initiatives and enterprises, food affordability and food access programs, as well as projects such as community gardens and school and educational food programs,” she says.

To find out more about how you can help to support FRRR’s work, head to frrr.org.au/giving