How AMM meals amplify impact for Outer East Foodshare

In an unassuming, residential corner of Wantirna sits a small former childcare centre, which, until five years ago, sat empty and under-utilised. Today, however, it’s bustling once again.

But instead of providing education and shaping tiny minds, it’s collecting, organising and redistributing over 40 tonnes of food each month (think fruit, veggies, groceries, bread, cakes, and even pet food), and providing critical food-relief infrastructure for Melbourne’s outer east.

Outer East Foodshare (OEF) is a hub in the true sense of the word. It’s an interchange, where food comes in and food goes out. Crates arrive from corporations donating surplus stock; from food-rescue groups; from one-off donors; and from other charities, including Alex Makes Meals, providing ready-made meals for sharing.

Deliveries are unpacked, sorted and repacked with well-practised efficiency, by a team of dedicated volunteers.

Each stack of crates is destined for a different community group, charity or support agency, who will either receive a delivery or collect for themselves, stopping for a chat and a cuppa before continuing on their way.

At the head of operations is Marilyn Lambert, co-founder and Chair of Outer East Foodshare, who first started distributing groceries from Foodbank back in 2012.

Today, OEF provides food for over 60 agencies across the Yarra Ranges, Knox and Maroondah council areas. And everything that goes out is carefully curated to meet the needs of the individual agency, and the people it supports.

“We try to match what we get with who can use it,” Marilyn explains.

“We share it out based on the size of the agency, what they do and what their capacity is.”

One group, Marilyn explains, supports a handful of families experiencing hardship. They receive things like bread, fresh fruit and veg, and pantry staples (the OEF pantry is well-stocked with Vegemite).

Another works primarily with people experiencing homelessness, so they receive pre-cooked meals, fruit and snack items — things that don’t require prep work or kitchen facilities.

Yet another partner, The Orchard, runs community meal nights. Previously, they created their weekly menus, collected what they could from OEF and other sponsors, and purchased the rest, Marilyn explains.

Now, it’s the other way around: they base their menus around what OEF can offer them.

“That way, they’ve reduced their costs by two thirds, and they’re still making really good, nutritious meals.”

Waste not, want not

OEF operates on a philosophy that they won’t distribute food they wouldn’t eat themselves.

As Marilyn puts it: “We don’t give out rubbish.”

Yet, not much is wasted here. Anything deemed not fit for humans is set aside to become animal feed, collected by local farmers. If it’s past even that, it goes into the FOGO bin for composting.

One volunteer takes home borderline fruit and veg and brings back jars of marmalade and chutney. Another takes wilting basil plants and rehabilitates them in the kindergarten’s garden beds.

Cardboard and other recyclables are sent to the waste transfer station, and soft plastics go back to Woolies for recycling.

“The only real rubbish is the yucky plastic that’s not suitable for recycling,” Marilyn says.

“I wish we didn’t get as much plastic as we do.”

The power of a freezer

Outer East Foodshare started receiving frozen meals from AMM in early 2026, as part of our expansion into the north-east corridor and outer suburbs of Melbourne. That expansion was facilitated in partnership with Sustain: The Australian Food Network, and funded through a $270,000 grant from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

The same grant provided the first $5,000 towards a new walk-in freezer for OEF, significantly increasing its storage capabilities. That anchor commitment got the ball rolling, Marilyn says, encouraging other supporters to contribute to the $30,000 cost.

“The magic happened when we put a call out on Facebook mentioning that we'd had to refuse a huge donation of chicken because we didn't have any way to store it,” she adds.

“That was shared widely by our own volunteer networks, who were able to explain what OEF does across Melbourne's outer east, which then brought in the remainder of the funds we needed.”

In October 2026, Marilyn and the team unveiled the brand new freezer, affectionately named ‘Ian’*, and funded by Alex Makes Meals, Bendigo Bank, Freemasons Victoria, the Knox Op Shop, and a local couple identified only as C & R Veal.

“The new freezer will be a game changer,” Marilyn says.

It will allow OEF to store more food for longer, including bulk deliveries of meat or even fruit, which can spoil quickly in the summer heat. It also, of course, means they can store more frozen meals, offering more variety and more choice to those receiving them.

Frozen meals are an important part of OEF’s offering.

“We obviously give out as much fresh produce as we can each day, but having the extra frozen meals means that there's a more of a chance there will definitely be some protein there,” Marilyn explains.

“It also gives people that feeling of being spoiled. If you're given a meal, you know somebody cares. Somebody's made it for you."

“I think that's important, because some people are conscious that they're getting surplus food from supermarkets … whereas the frozen meal has been prepared using fresh food, with love, for somebody.”

There’s also a point of practicality. Many of OEF’s partner agencies work with people who don’t have access to a kitchen. For these groups, healthy, convenient meals can be hard to come by.

“Women escaping family violence are often put up in motel rooms, so they’ll have a bar fridge, a microwave, a toaster and a kettle. They’re very limited in what they can do."

“And of course, for people who are homeless or rough sleepers, they can often take a meal to somewhere like 7-Eleven and heat it up for free. So that provides them with a hot meal even if they’ve got no cooking facilities at all.”

Amplifying impact

At Alex Makes Meals, we support organisations who support their communities. Supplying OEF adds another layer: wnorthe’re supporting an organisation that supports organisations that support their communities. And we’re proud to add another pillar to OEF’s offering.

But with cost-of-living increases, demand is increasing too. At OEF, agencies are reporting more people seeking food relief, many of whom are working.

All in, OEF processes about 40 tonnes of food each month (and about half of that comes from Costco alone). It supports over 60 other groups, and Marilyn estimates its food reaches over 6,000 people every week.

“By supporting agencies across our sector, we’re making life easier for them. We’re providing 40 tonnes of food for them, which enables them to give their clients more food, better range, and better quality than they could if we weren’t around,” she says.

“We do that with no charge. We do a mixture of delivery and pickup, and we organise a day that suits them and the food preferences they prefer."

“We do believe we’re making a substantial impact.”

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