Placement students

We’re so fortunate to have partnered with ACU, Deakin and Monash Universities and have several students completing their placement requirements with us at the moment

Bianca & Rachael

Bianca and Rachael have been helping our at our Pakenham and Carlton Market for their Community and Public Health placement as part of their Deakin University Masters of Dietetics. In their time with us they are evaluating what aspects of our markets are of the greatest value to the communities in which they operate, as well as any areas for improvement. From there, they will be coming up with ways we can better serve our community to ensure that we are able to continue to provide increased access to fresh and affordable produce that is culturally appropriate for our communities. They also recently conducted an education session with our team to teach us more about the Australian Dietary Guidelines and the role of nutrition in disease prevention.

When we asked why Bianca feels access to fruit and vegetables is important, she said “There's so much evidence to show the correlation between fruit and veg intake on a healthy balanced diet in living a healthy life and prevention of disease. Accessibility, affordability and quality help individuals meet these requirements and improve their overall wellbeing”.
We asked Rachael why she thinks community is important and she said “Community is integral in supporting the wellbeing of individuals through equitable access to health services, social interaction and access to nourishing fruit and vegetables”.

Natalie & Jie Shi

We are so lucky to have had Natalis and Jie Shi join our Fitzroy Market Team recently as part of their Bachelor of Nutrition Science placement at Monash Uni. In their time with us they are conducting a quantitative market analysis, integrating background research and designing interview questions with TCG staff members to evaluate the success and areas for improvement across all of our markets over the last 10 years!

When we asked Natalie what she thinks the main barriers to people accessing a nutritious diet were, she said “There could be lots of barriers preventing people from eating a nutritious diet but one of the biggest challenges would be economic barriers, especially for a low socioeconomic population. They have less weekly household income for food that would reduce their accessibility to nutritious food. More than that, the social environment could also affect people’s preference of food like the advertisement of ultra-processed food and social norms of body image”

We asked Jie Shi why nutrition is important to her and she said “I think food and nutrition is very important as it has many beneficial qualities. It is able to bring people together (socially), able to heal our body in certain ways, and can affect our mental health too. I personally am more interested in the mental health side of things with food, and would love to be able to contribute my knowledge to the world”

We’re relocating our pakenham market

From Thursday 31st August 2023, our Pakenham Market will be running each week at Living Learning Pakenham, at 6B Henry St Pakenham from 9am - 1pm. We first opened the market here back in March 2018 and it’s great to be returning!

Our Pakenham Market Team is looking forward to welcoming new and familiar faces at Living Learning Pakenham and in true TCG fashion, we are putting on a Relocation Celebration! From 9am- 1pm on Thursday 31st August we’ll be set up with our range of fresh and affordable fruits and vegetables, and will be joined by some community stalls as well as a coffee van to make sure you’ll have plenty of energy to check out our new location!

Spread the word about our relocation and we’ll see you at the new site at Living Learning Pakenham, 9am-1pm Thursdays from 31st August 2023!

We have absolutely loved our time at Outlook Community Centre where the team was kind enough be incredible hosts for us during all the twists and turns of COVID-19 lockdowns from our reopening at their site way back in October 2020.

We are so grateful for everything the Outlook team put together for us to be able to run our weekly markets at their centre and have really enjoyed being able to chat with the lovely team and share recipes with one another. We can’t thank Alison and the wonderful team enough for their hospitality. If you’ve enjoyed visiting our market at Outlook as much as we’ve loved being there, be sure to pop into reception and give them a ‘Thank you’ during our last market at Outlook on August 24th.

Meet our new team members!

Georgia Savage

GENERAL MANAGER

Georgia’s background is in public health and community development. In 2012 she discovered a new passion for food (selling it, growing it, eating it!) and saw first hand it’s ability to connect community in meaningful ways. Georgia was in fact one of the first employees at The Community Grocer way back then. In the years since, Georgia has built her experience running operations for a number of not-for-profit organisations and has sat on Boards for Farmer Incubator, The Community Grocer and the Gordon Farmgate (where she lives in Western Victoria). Georgia’s favourite vegetables are from the brassica family - broccoli and kale, which grows perfectly in the cold climate where she lives.

Mon Enriquez

FITZROY MARKET MANAGER

Mon’s love for food originates from their love for community. They have worked in community spaces, collaborating closely with young people, queer communities and people from migrant and refugee backgrounds on projects that work to platform their perspectives and foreground their agency. And while it hasn’t been a central part of their work, bringing people together over food - whether its with family, friends or community - is one of their favourite things to do. Mon’s favourite produce changes with the season, at the moment it’s neither fruit, nor veg - it’s the humble mushroom!

Ayan Shirwa

CARLTON MARKET ASSISTANT

Ayan Shirwa is passionate about cultivating safe and supportive environments where the community feels seen and heard.
Ayan recently completed a Community Service IV course and is excited to use her new found knowledge to create enriching experiences for the community.

Thank you and Good Luck Tess

Tess first joined our team as our Market Manager of Fitzroy and Heidelberg West in September 2019. Her skills, knowledge and energy soon became invaluable and it wasn’t long before she became our General Manager in February of 2020!

It’s truly difficult to summarise all that Tess has done in her four years with us. In addition to always greeting our team, customers and wider community with a huge smile and can-do attitude, there is a mammoth amount of work that she has done behind the scenes to make our organisation what it is today. Tess directed five groups of university placement students, secured countless grants of various sizes for our organisation, conducted feasibility studies for new markets and other projects and oversaw over 500 markets which have served over 18,000 customers. Tess has also stepped in on countless occasions to help out at these markets, whether it be delivering Fruit & Veggie Box orders, serving customers, or assisting with the set up or pack down of our markets.

As we’re all well aware, navigating COVID-19 was a challenge no one foresaw, but Tess adjusted to all the twists and turns of the pandemic with grace, and ensured that our team, customers and community were all well looked after and felt safe attending our markets.

In 2020 Tess was a huge force in facilitating the provision of 1000 Fruit & Veggie Boxes for residents living in the Public Housing Estates under lockdown, in partnership with Moving Feast. These boxes were filled with fresh, culturally appropriate fruit and vegetables for residents that was familiar to them, that they could prepare ensuring access to nutritious food

Tess was also integral in developing our Grocer Gift Community Partnership Program, an innovative web-based voucher program that allows recipients to access food relief in a more discrete and accessible way, addressing the overwhelming need for a sustainable and dignified way to access nutritious food for people experiencing disadvantage. After being piloted in Fitzroy and Carlton in 2020, this program then came to Pakenham in 2021. 

After having to close our Pakenham Market due to COVID complications, Tess was back on the ground with our team on Day One of Pakenham’s reopening in October 2021. She was also interviewed for ABC RN Life Matters about our model out at our Pakenham Market. You can listen to the piece on ABC Life Matters’ website or download here.  

Tess was also behind the generous grant we received from City of Melbourne to re-open our Carlton Market in November 2022, after having to close due to the pressures of COVID-19.

We are so grateful for the time we had with Tess and for all that she brought to The Community Grocer. We wish her all the best in her new adventures! 💚

Carlton is Coming back & we have new Team members!

Our Carlton Market Relaunches on November 25th!

We’re so excited to announce that thanks to funding from City of Melbourne, our Carlton Market will be coming back to Carlton Public Housing Estate on Fridays, in just one week’s time! 🍉

Our relaunch date is locked in for Friday the 25th of November and from that week on, we will be at the rear of 510 Lygon Street with our delicious, fresh, and affordable fruit and vegetables from 8am-12pm, each Friday.

Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sally Capp, will be there on the day to officially announce the funding that will allow our Carlton Market to recommence operations for at least the next 12 months.

Here’s Madie, checking out the big undercover Market space outside the 510 Community Room!

Madie will be coming across from Pakenham, as our Carlton Market Manager, with Girija taking over as our new Pakenham Market Manager.

mEET Imal Shahab, OUR NEW GENERAL MANAGER

The Board of The Community Grocer is excited to welcome our new General Manager Imal Shahab. Imal comes to us from an amazing career encompassing working with most recently Australian Red Cross Lifeblood but previously at the United Nations with their Commission for Refugees. Imal has also been directly involved managing his family farms and fruit and vegetable business in his birthplace of Afghanistan.  Imal has always had a passion for helping people in need and a strong sense of community. We look forward to what The Community Grocer can achieve under his management

A bit about Imal…

 
 

Imal has been an entrepreneur from a very young age, as well as, served in diverse roles such as governance, human resources, diversity, equity & inclusion, occupational health & safety, international relations/diplomacy, design thinking and change both nationally and internationally for over 23 years. Imal is passionate to instil a legacy that brings positivity in people's lives. Imal has a BBA and Masters. He makes good Afghan Kebabs and barbecue, his favourite fruit is mango, favourite herb: saffron, and favourite vegetable: truss tomatoes.

Welcome to the team, Imal!

We are also so pleased to announce that even though Tess has stepped down from her role as General Manager (which she has been in for more than two years!) she is not leaving The Community Grocer family. Tess is staying on to initially support Imal with the handover of the General Manager role and then she will be working part time as our Project and Impact Lead, where she will focus on various projects, fundraising, and stakeholder engagement.

We are so happy to have Tess continuing with our team!!

 

Meet Girija Wadhwani, our New Pakenham Market Manager

We're delighted to have Girija as our new Pakenham Market Manager!

If you've been to our Pakenham Market this month, you may have already met Girija, as she’s been getting familiar with her new Market Manager position, with Madie set to finish up as our Pakenham Market Manager on the 24th.

A bit about Girija…

Girija is a Mechanical Engineer and has worked as a Mechanical Engineer for 15 years with international engineering consultancies. She has lived in India, US, Singapore, Japan and finally settled in Melbourne, Australia.

Her love for cooking and homemade food is inspired by her grandparents, her mum and her daughter. Living in different countries exposed her to a variety of cuisines.

After settling in Australia, she got a chance to formalise and go deep in her passion for food. She enrolled in a Bachelor of Nutrition Science which gave her a whole new perspective about food. Currently the food that is available to us is part of a system which involves farmers, climate, country’s trade policies, country’s economic position, sustainability in food production and consumption and cultural preferences and dogma.

It is fascinating and frustrating at the same time. But she strongly believes that food needs to be simple as it is a basic human right and this has motivated her to use her passion to help the community.

Girija’s favourite fruits are Mangosteen and Sugar palm fruit and favourite vegetable is Okra.

We are pumped to have Girija's passion and enthusiasm join our Market Team!

Welcome on board, Girija!