John Morgan
Liberation Larder is located on Fletcher St Byron Bay behind the community centre and was founded in 2009 by Venerable Honu, a Buddhist nun, who recognised there were many people in our community struggling to make ends meet.
What started as a very small charity to help feed the homeless and others in need has grown into an organisation that is an indispensable lifeline for so many of our community members.
The current problems of food insecurity and food waste, coupled with a not insignificant number of our community members facing housing and financial hardship, has led Liberation Larder to be at the forefront in providing a safe haven.
Two days a week, people in need, whether homeless or just doing it tough, can get access to ready made meals, bread, milk fruit and vegetables and other grocery items, free of charge, in a friendly environment devoid of judgment.
The Larder facilitates this by rescuing food that would in many cases end up as waste, our supply partners are numerous and the food that is rescued is 99 per cent of the time still in date and totally of saleable quality.
It is donated in anticipation of being surplus, and in many cases, perfectly saleable food made available through the generosity of our supplies purely to aid those in need.
Over 50 vollies
To achieve this, Liberation Larder has over 50 volunteers involved in collecting preparing cooking distributing and co-ordinating this ever so important humane endeavour.
During the last 12 months, Liberation Larder has provided 18,272 meals and rescued 87,669kgs of quality produce – being the ingredients of these meals – as well as being handed out as grocery packages to carry our clients over the next few days.
Funded social worker
The Larder also funds a social worker, thanks to the Northern Rivers Community Foundation, and they assist Liberation Larder clients with other issues that can arise.
All this is done without any form of government assistance, including from our own Council, and we are entirely reliant on the generosity of our Byron Shire community to sustain the amazing contribution made by this organisation.
No one at the Larder is paid a wage – it is 100 per cent volunteer driven.
To help the Liberation Larder with its mission (tax deductible) donations are always more than welcome and can be made by logging on to its website at www.liberationlarder.org or check out their Facebook page liberationlarderinc.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
