A charity that provides low-cost food to struggling families has been forced to close its storage warehouse, while demand for its services skyrocket.
Lighthouse Care operates one of Logan’s biggest discount grocery stores, with shops at Loganholme and Hillcrest, but founder Debbie Hill said a perfect storm of rising costs and rising demand had forced the non-profit organisation to sell its warehouse.
“Rising interest rates, electricity’s gone through the roof and then diesel on top of it, we’ve just got to find ways of cutting back so that we can sustain the service,” Ms Hill said.
She said demand for low-cost groceries was increasing as smaller charities closed.
In particular, demand for the free $25 trolley of essential grocery items for families in need had surged, with the organisation forecasting to give out 2500 bundles this year, more than double the 1000 bundles given out last year, she said.
“I think it’s really sad that in this nation, people are like, do I eat or do I get my medication? People are having to make those kinds of decisions,” Ms Hill said.
“People are struggling more and more as costs just keep rising. Incomes don’t, unfortunately, but everything else does,” she said.
Ms Hill said Lighthouse Care was seeking donations to raise $500,000 to restructure and renovate its Loganholme store to use storage space more efficiently.
The renovations will extend storage space vertically into the roof and about $250,000 of the donation drive goal would fund a bigger cold room for perishable items.
Part of the money would also be used to offset costs of the current lease at a smaller warehouse, she said.
Ms Hill said Lighthouse Care was reluctant to pass cost increases on to people already under financial stress.
“We do home delivery and we’ve got trucks on the road and petrol prices are obviously going through the roof, but we’re trying to not increase the price and absorb those costs so that the families that are really doing it tough, we don’t want to add any price or increase to them, so we’re just doing our best to make ends meet that way,” she said.
Ms Hill said the charity’s supply chains had also been impacted and she was having to source more food overseas, with the the team planning to go to Bangkok to find more cheaper food suppliers.
“We worked with three major organisations or businesses that had food clearing arms but, as the economy tightens, they’ve cut back on what’s overproduced,” Ms Hill said.
“It’s very, very challenging. You know, like we had to be inventive, innovative in the producing of the Good Food [branded products],” she said
“To get more food, we’ve got to look in other places because it’s a shrinking market in Australia.”
The Foodbank Hunger Report 2025 found one in three Australian households faced food insecurity in the past year.
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