More than 800 square metres of VicTrack-owned land in the heart of Brunswick has been transformed into a high production urban farm where The Big Umbrella Foundation raises fresh produce.
The farm has been made possible through a VicTrack community lease that enables the Big Umbrella to put the previously underused railway land to good use, providing real support to people who need it – bringing our assets to life.
The Big Umbrella Foundation creates and serves high quality meals to people experiencing food insecurity and homelessness using rescued food. Currently 700 cooked three-course meals are made from scratch per week. The meals are then served to friends on the street at Federation Square by a team of dedicated volunteers who are renowned for their friendliness and great quality food.
By Christmas Eve this year, 32,000 meals will have been served during 2024. Over its 15 years of operations The Big Umbrella Foundation has served 515,000 free quality meals to anyone experiencing food insecurity.
“We’re absolutely delighted with our long-term partnership with VicTrack,” said Victoria Wilson, The Big Umbrella Foundation’s Operations Manager.
“VicTrack kindly let us have use of more than 800 square metres of its land and we’ve been able to invigorate it to create a high production urban farm scape.
“We’re working towards being one of the most sustainable commercial kitchens in Australia, with produce being grown from composted food scraps to create wonderful fresh ingredients that augments food that is donated from our supermarket partners to create wonderful meals that we freely offer to our friends on the street.”
"We’re absolutely delighted with our long-term partnership with VicTrack."
Victoria explained the addition of the urban farm has enabled The Big Umbrella Foundation to both incorporate more fresh produce into their meals and enhance the volunteering experience.
“It’s so exciting to be able to grow our own fresh produce as food scarcity is a real thing,” she said.
“Being able to offer fresh produce to our friends on the street, for example a fresh salad made from tomatoes harvested from the urban farm, is absolutely first class. Our friends on the street really appreciate it.
“It also means our volunteers can experience volunteering in the garden. It’s an all ages, all abilities garden. We have people with disabilities, and we even have people over the age of 90 who volunteer in the urban farm.
“So, it really rounds out our volunteer experience and it also contributes to the amazing quality of food we can serve to our friends.”
VicTrack volunteers lend a hand
The Big Umbrella Foundation invites businesses to take part in corporate volunteering days. In May 2024, a team of around 20 VicTrack employees pitched in to prepare meals at The Big Umbrella Foundation’s Brunswick Emergency Food Relief Centre and served them at Federation Square - giving them the opportunity to see first-hand how our underused railway land can benefit not-for-profit organisations.
VicTrack supports its people to give back to the community by offering five days of volunteer leave each year.
More than 800 square metres of VicTrack-owned land in the heart of Brunswick has been transformed into a high production urban farm where The Big Umbrella Foundation raises fresh produce.
The farm has been made possible through a VicTrack community lease that enables the Big Umbrella to put the previously underused railway land to good use, providing real support to people who need it – bringing our assets to life.
The Big Umbrella Foundation creates and serves high quality meals to people experiencing food insecurity and homelessness using rescued food. Currently 700 cooked three-course meals are made from scratch per week. The meals are then served to friends on the street at Federation Square by a team of dedicated volunteers who are renowned for their friendliness and great quality food.
By Christmas Eve this year, 32,000 meals will have been served during 2024. Over its 15 years of operations The Big Umbrella Foundation has served 515,000 free quality meals to anyone experiencing food insecurity.
“We’re absolutely delighted with our long-term partnership with VicTrack,” said Victoria Wilson, The Big Umbrella Foundation’s Operations Manager.
“VicTrack kindly let us have use of more than 800 square metres of its land and we’ve been able to invigorate it to create a high production urban farm scape.
“We’re working towards being one of the most sustainable commercial kitchens in Australia, with produce being grown from composted food scraps to create wonderful fresh ingredients that augments food that is donated from our supermarket partners to create wonderful meals that we freely offer to our friends on the street.”
"We’re absolutely delighted with our long-term partnership with VicTrack."
Victoria explained the addition of the urban farm has enabled The Big Umbrella Foundation to both incorporate more fresh produce into their meals and enhance the volunteering experience.
“It’s so exciting to be able to grow our own fresh produce as food scarcity is a real thing,” she said.
“Being able to offer fresh produce to our friends on the street, for example a fresh salad made from tomatoes harvested from the urban farm, is absolutely first class. Our friends on the street really appreciate it.
“It also means our volunteers can experience volunteering in the garden. It’s an all ages, all abilities garden. We have people with disabilities, and we even have people over the age of 90 who volunteer in the urban farm.
“So, it really rounds out our volunteer experience and it also contributes to the amazing quality of food we can serve to our friends.”
VicTrack volunteers lend a hand
The Big Umbrella Foundation invites businesses to take part in corporate volunteering days. In May 2024, a team of around 20 VicTrack employees pitched in to prepare meals at The Big Umbrella Foundation’s Brunswick Emergency Food Relief Centre and served them at Federation Square - giving them the opportunity to see first-hand how our underused railway land can benefit not-for-profit organisations.
VicTrack supports its people to give back to the community by offering five days of volunteer leave each year.
