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Speaker 1: As we heard from well from the Acting Assistant Commissioner

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Speaker 1: Danny Bacon a short time ago, there were just under

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Speaker 1: six hundred people staying at Howard Springs as a result

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Speaker 1: of being evacuated from the communities in which they live

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Speaker 1: due to flooding. Now joining me on the line right

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Speaker 1: now is Peter Chandler, who is the executive officer of

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Speaker 1: Food Bank here in the Northern Territory. Good morning to you, Pete.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you doing?

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Speaker 1: Not too bad now, Pete? I understand that food Bank

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Speaker 1: is ensuring that those who have been evacuated have got

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Speaker 1: their food, their toilet trees as well while they're in

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Speaker 1: that evacuation center or the Center for National Resilience.

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Speaker 2: Look, food Bank INT is part of a wider group

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Speaker 2: that's managed by the Northern Territory government, and we play

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Speaker 2: our part. There are many others involved in this Red

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Speaker 2: Cross for Salvation Army and so many others form part

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Speaker 2: of this group that come together plan throughout the year

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Speaker 2: and when there's an instance like this, ready to go

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Speaker 2: and you know, the team here put some food together

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Speaker 2: last week when the first evacuees were being brought into Darwin,

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Speaker 2: and I think very wisely. The government have decided to

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Speaker 2: use the Howard Springs facilities, which I think is so

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Speaker 2: much better for evacuees than not the old, the good

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Speaker 2: old foss Kip of England. But when you've just got

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Speaker 2: hundreds of beds all in one big hall, yeah, it's

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Speaker 2: not there's no privacy and I think this is a

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Speaker 2: lot better idea and is being managed well. And I

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Speaker 2: think to be honest, this group, as well as government

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Speaker 2: learn every time that we do something like this, they

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Speaker 2: get better at it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely so, Pete, what kind of assistance is being

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Speaker 1: provided at this point at the Center for National Resilience?

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Speaker 1: But also has Food Bank had to assist any of

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Speaker 1: the other communities that may sort of be not entirely

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Speaker 1: cut off, but it might be finding it a little

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Speaker 1: bit more difficult to access food at this time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look that there's two sides to this. There's the

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Speaker 2: everyday stuff that three Bank NT does and that could

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Speaker 2: be helping people, you know in the Greater day and

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Speaker 2: area right across the top end. And we're sending food

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Speaker 2: out the communities. You know. Our truck went down to

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Speaker 2: Catherine last week and a lot of that food gets

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Speaker 2: distributed around communities around the Catherine area, so that work

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Speaker 2: continues and goes on and we respond where we're asked to.

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Speaker 2: And it's the same thing with government at the moment

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Speaker 2: if they pick up the phone noun we need a

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Speaker 2: whole lot of tooth baste or a whole lot of

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Speaker 2: tooth bruses, or we needed additional food where he ready

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Speaker 2: to respond. What we need to do, and like all

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Speaker 2: of the other not for profits that are involved in this,

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Speaker 2: is to be ready to react and also be ready

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Speaker 2: to be adaptable because it's always a changing I'm going

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Speaker 2: to use the word feast, the changing feast, because you

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Speaker 2: never know what's going to be asked for next. We've

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Speaker 2: got another briefing today and there'll be more requests, I'm sure,

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Speaker 2: and we'll be there, ready to ready to act.

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Speaker 1: Are you having any difficulties at the moment? Is food

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Speaker 1: Bank having any difficulties at the moment in terms of

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Speaker 1: that rail line near Tenant Creek and the fact that

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Speaker 1: it's damaged, or any supply issues.

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Speaker 2: We've got sufficient supplies at the moment, but we have

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Speaker 2: put This is where I pay credit to our interstate cousins.

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Speaker 2: I mean, most people think of food bankers, what we

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Speaker 2: do here but feed banks right around the country and

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Speaker 2: we are collective and so whenever we as a small

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Speaker 2: operator we need back up or support in any way,

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Speaker 2: we're always reaching out to save Feedbanks South Australia or

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Speaker 2: the federated head which is feed Bank Australia. We pick

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Speaker 2: up the phone and say, guys, we need this. They

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Speaker 2: start to revel the phones and all of a sudden,

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Speaker 2: we've got food that turns up here. We get excellent

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Speaker 2: support from Food Bank Australia and Food Banks South Australia

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Speaker 2: in particular.

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Speaker 1: Well that is good to hear, Pete. Just on a

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Speaker 1: more sort of broad level, I guess we know that

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Speaker 1: at the moment, cost of living is high on everybody's agenda.

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Speaker 1: As we see those interest rates rise, I think we're

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Speaker 1: expecting that there's probably going to be another interest rate

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Speaker 1: rise this week, cost of fuel, cost of food, it

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Speaker 1: is all really quite difficult at this point. How have

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Speaker 1: things been going for food Bank and how has the

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Speaker 1: demand for your services been going.

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Speaker 2: It's increasing all the time, Katie. You know we can

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Speaker 2: go back and give you stats that before COVID we

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Speaker 2: were putting enough food every month for about thirty five

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Speaker 2: thousand meals in the community that grew to about fifty

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Speaker 2: thousand a month through COVID, But since COVID's kind of

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Speaker 2: become a seeming mean thing of the past, or we

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Speaker 2: just manage it better. You know, we still are being

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Speaker 2: asked to put out about fifty three thousand meals a

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Speaker 2: month at the moment, and our foods for fifty three

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Speaker 2: thousand meals, So it's increasing. And when I used to

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Speaker 2: be surprised that or who were the people that were

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Speaker 2: reaching out from time to time, I'm not anymore because

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Speaker 2: you just don't know. You can't judge what someone's personal lives.

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Speaker 2: They may drive a BMW today, for instance, but they're

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Speaker 2: sure to cash. They've got no food in the house,

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Speaker 2: and they need help, and it might only just be

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Speaker 2: a one off. You know. The perfect scenario for me

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Speaker 2: is it happened a few months ago where a gentleman

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Speaker 2: coming and I thought he was a well to do bloke,

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Speaker 2: and he was asked for a bit of food because

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Speaker 2: he was dead cashless at the time. And you know,

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Speaker 2: a few weeks later, he turns up and he wants

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Speaker 2: to volunteer because he felt that we helped him through

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Speaker 2: a really tough time. He wanted to give back some hours.

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Speaker 2: And I think that's community right there, and whenever we

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Speaker 2: do need help, we get it from the community. Our

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Speaker 2: volunteers are our absolute backbone at this organization, and of

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Speaker 2: course the staff and I mean, look, I've lost a

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Speaker 2: couple of gems recently with Paul and Peter moving on

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Speaker 2: to other challenges and so forth, and they were just

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Speaker 2: amazing for this organization. But the community supports what we

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Speaker 2: do and that will continue and I'm sure and look,

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Speaker 2: I would ask again if people can either donate food

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Speaker 2: or donate cash to this organization. It all stays here

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Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory territory and is helping territories.

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Speaker 1: I mean, fifty three thousand meals a month. It is

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Speaker 1: a phenomenal number. Pete. I was reading an article or

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Speaker 1: I was actually watching something last week where the Food

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Speaker 1: Bank CEO nationally had been saying exactly what you've just

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Speaker 1: pointed out, that you know that people are sort of

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Speaker 1: putting their you know, putting their mortgages first and making

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Speaker 1: sure that they are still able to put a roof

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Speaker 1: over the heads of their families, and then they're seeking

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Speaker 1: out the assistance of the likes of food Bank because

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Speaker 1: things are so tough right now.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and you know the things we are asked to

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Speaker 2: do more and more every day, provide more and more food.

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Speaker 2: And yet you know we're doing it on if you

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Speaker 2: like less and less budgets, or we're needing to get

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Speaker 2: those budgets to stretch further. The truth is you've still

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Speaker 2: got to pay the power, You've still got to pay

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Speaker 2: the rent. And people are the same in the community,

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Speaker 2: and the same stresses that affect people affect us as

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Speaker 2: an organization, and so more and more people are reaching

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Speaker 2: out and sadly, I think we're only scratching the surface,

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Speaker 2: and I think we're going to get more requests before

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Speaker 2: it starts to ease up. I will do over the

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Speaker 2: next becoming months as interest rates continue to go. And

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Speaker 2: you're right, people are ensuring those bills are paid first,

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Speaker 2: and sadly there's not much less left to get some

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Speaker 2: food on the table.

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Speaker 1: Pete. If there is people listening out there this morning

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Speaker 1: that are thinking, do you know what I actually do

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Speaker 1: need to come and see food bank? You know, I

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Speaker 1: need a bit of a hand up. What's the best

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Speaker 1: way for them to do so? Or if there is

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Speaker 1: somebody out there listening, who thinks, do you know what?

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Speaker 1: I really want to donate to these guys. You do

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Speaker 1: an incredible job and I want to be able to

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Speaker 1: support you.

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Speaker 2: Number of sites around Darwen that people can access food.

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Speaker 2: But you've also got to remember that ninety percent of

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Speaker 2: the food that goes through a food bank through Free

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Speaker 2: Bank gets distributed through other charities. So you know Catholic

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Speaker 2: Care for instance, or one of our biggest partners, where

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Speaker 2: if someone goes to Catholic Care to get food, nine

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Speaker 2: times out of tend that food has come from Food Bank.

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Speaker 2: So there's a wide distribution and the ability for people.

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Speaker 2: But even on Saturday mornings, we open the warehouse here

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Speaker 2: for people that are really struggling and coming here and

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Speaker 2: grab some food. So the warehouse is open six days

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Speaker 2: a week. We would never turn someone away if they

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Speaker 2: walked in off the street. But percent of our food

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Speaker 2: gets our schools and out to other charities. But still

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Speaker 2: people can come here to the warehouse not a problem.

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Speaker 1: Well, Peter Chandler, the executive officer for Food Bank here

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory, we always appreciate your time. Thanks

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Speaker 1: so much for having a chat with us this morning.

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Speaker 2: You're welcome Katie, God bless thank you,