GEELONG and Essendon will come together on Saturday afternoon for the annual Powercor Country Festival clash at the MCG. 

Established in 2016, the Powercor Country Festival is aimed at highlighting and celebrating the role regional and rural Australians play in our community.

The past 18 months has been a challenging period for all Australians due to COVID-19 and more recently flooding in many regional and rural areas throughout Australia.

Australia’s largest food relief organisation, Foodbank, has been instrumental during this period of hardship by scaling up its operations to meet the unprecedented increase in demand for food relief. Last year Foodbank sourced 48.1 million kilograms of food and groceries which equated to 86.7 million meals, or 238,000 meals a day.

Foodbank is currently under more pressure than ever to provide food relief to flood affected communities across Northern New South Wales and South Eastern Queensland.

Just in the last week Foodbank has received a 94.6% increase in demand for food relief in flood affected regions. This is on top of the 1 million Australians that Foodbank already provides food relief to each month. 

With the demand sky-rocketing, Geelong and Morris have teamed up for the second year running to give back to Australians in need.

Morris will be donating $500 to Foodbank, the equivalent of 1000 meals for every goal the Geelong Cats kick against Essendon on Saturday to support victims of the flooding across two states.

“As a national business, we’re always looking for ways to give back, supporting the community is a value we as a company take very seriously,” Morris General Manager - Marketing Tiffany Hunt said.

“The work of Foodbank is crucial, and we’re thrilled to partner with the Geelong Cats to donate 1000 meals for every goal kicked at the Country Festival match, with 100% of the proceeds going directly to those affected by the recent floods in both Northern New South Wales and South Eastern Queensland.”

“We are proud and grateful to be in a position where we can support the community during this difficult time, especially when so many hardworking Australians are seeking food relief for the first time, finding themselves in situations they never anticipated.”

Foodbank Australia CEO Brianna Casey is grateful for the support of Morris.

“We’re thrilled to once again be involved with the Powercor Country Festival with our national partner Morris. Right now, many Australians are doing it tougher than ever, especially in flood affected areas. Our ability to respond so swiftly to disasters of this scales is thanks to partners like Morris,” Casey said.

“We are grateful for the support of Morris at this year’s festival. Their commitment to donate 1,000 meals for every goal kicked by the Cat’s this weekend will assist us to provide much needed meals to those impacted by the awful flooding.”

The Powercor Country Festival clash with Essendon will be held at the MCG this Saturday with the first bounce at 2.10pm.

You too can make a difference by donating to Foodbank at foodbank.org.au