FareShare and SecondBite have had a long history of working together. We recognise the complementary nature of each organisation, FareShare’s incredible community-led culture and SecondBite’s national scale and reach. This merger enables increased support to those in the community who need it most.

The vision is – that every Australian has access to nutritious food – no matter their location or situation. And our purpose is that we partner with communities to provide free, nutritious food and lovingly cooked meals that help Australians thrive.

There are many benefits to be realised from a merged entity, including:  

• a merged entity would be able to better advocate for effective food relief, and better represent the voice of communities who need it,
• a greater volume of food, with greater diversity of food options, can be provided to communities through economies of scale and supply chain optimisation,
• and a focus on the creation of a needs-led system of food relief that currently does not exist in Australia, with communities able to have their nutritional and cultural needs catered for, including a medically tailored program currently being piloted by FareShare.

We will continue to operate under two names and brands: FareShare mobilising volunteers to cook tens of thousands of meals a week in its Melbourne and Brisbane kitchens and SecondBite collecting donations of surplus food from farms, supermarkets and businesses to meet the needs of frontline services and stopping quality food going to waste. 

No jobs will be lost, so the people at FareShare will still be there!

Importantly, both Marcus Godinho and Kellie Watson are moving on, effective as of 1 July. The merged organisation will be a much larger enterprise. Before finishing up Kellie and Marcus are working with the FareShare and SecondBite Boards and executive teams to do everything possible to prepare for the merger and they both believe FareShare is in a stronger position and doing more exciting work than ever.

By mutual agreement, Daniel Moorfield (SecondBite) will become Chief Executive Officer of the new entity.  

The current FareShare Board Chair, David Harris and SecondBite Board Chair, Joel Mahemoff, will be appointed Co-Chairs of the new entity. A transitional Board will be appointed from August 1, consisting of four members of the current FareShare Board and four members of the SecondBite Board, plus one Coles’ appointed Board Director.  

Volunteers are critical to the success of the new entity, and a valued part of our community. There will be no change to volunteering programs in the short term. Longer term, we will look to ensure we have volunteer support in the areas of the organisation that need it most.  

Current corporate partners, philanthropic partners and individual donors for both FareShare and SecondBite will continue to be aligned with the organisation and projects, with which they currently partner.

Coles is supportive of, and excited about, the merger. It has been factored into the next five-year agreement which has been agreed upon by both SecondBite and Coles. 

Woolworths is supportive of, and excited about, the merger, and will continue to provide FareShare with both rescued food and funds. 

Food donors will continue to donate to either FareShare and/or SecondBite for the time being.  

Charity Partners will continue to receive food from either FareShare and/or SecondBite. We believe that a combined entity will provide a greater distribution of culturally-specific, healthy food and meals to areas that are geographically isolated, have greater need or are currently not being serviced.

All programs associated with each organisation will remain the same. The new entity remains committed to the existing programs and cohorts currently supported by FareShare and SecondBite and will look to expand upon these, not reduce them. 

There will be no changes to the FareShare RAP. SecondBite will take lessons from the RAP that FareShare currently has in place and will look to implement its own RAP in the future.  

There will be no change to building assets in the short term. Longer term, we will review our assets to ensure we are operating efficiently for the greatest impact. There may be some consolidation of assets, but expansion is also likely, particularly in states where we do not currently have a FareShare presence. 

We will send out regular updates as we consolidate the new way of working together. FareShare’s website, social media channels, newsletters remain unchanged. We will keep you posted with exciting new developments and anything you need to know.

If you have any questions email us at news@fareshare.net.au. Or talk directly to the person at FareShare who you work with by calling us on (03) 9428 0044.

You can also contact FareShare CEO Marcus Godinho directly via email – marcus.godinho@fareshare.net.au – or mobile – 0416 180 802 – if you have any issues.