- After noticing the horrific impact COVID, floods, and cost of living have had on everyday Aussies, Yas felt he needed to do something about it
- What started as a charity to help deliver food and medicine to people stuck at home launched into the Feeding Our People free supermarket.
- Yas Matbouly, 48, from the Gold Coast, Qld, shares his story below…
Grinning, I popped a handwritten sign on the shelf.
The cheery message read: On special… Everything!
This will give our shoppers a smile, I thought happily.
It all started with COVID, when some friends from university and I set up a charity to help deliver food and medicine to people stuck at home. Feeding Our People launched with two of us driving our own cars and covering the Gold Coast.
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In just two years, it had become an 800-person volunteer operation delivering to Brisbane, Logan, and the Goldie.
When the floods hit Northern New South Wales in February 2022, we made deliveries there, too.
It had been amazing watching it evolve, and my wife Lauren and teenage daughter, were equally as proud.
After the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis hit. Rents skyrocketed almost overnight, and food prices started becoming out of reach.
I worried more people would end up losing their homes.
A conversation over coffee one day with one of our supporters planted the seed of a brilliant idea.
“People are really struggling,” I said.
I explained that we’d done surveys and what they were really concerned about was feeding their families.
“So, start a free supermarket,” he said.
Was he joking? I wondered.
Still, I loved the idea of people shopping for free – no questions asked.
So, in 2021, I signed a 10-year lease on a run-down building in Mermaid Waters.
After fundraising, mates helped me transform it into a place to store donations, provide meals, host events – and house the “shop”.
I called it Serving Our People HQ, and thanks to my marketing, events, and finance background, the charity quickly established itself within the community.
I put up my cheery sign and visitors were offered a bag to fill with whatever was needed to stock the pantry and a few treats.
There were frozen meals, fresh fruit and vegies, plus toiletries like shampoo, sunscreen, or period products.
We got a few strange looks at first!
“Surely everything isn’t really free,” people said.
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In November 2023, we opened a second store in Logan. We knew the community had been hit hard, so it was no surprise shoppers stripped the shelves.
We had more than 600 people visit over two days.
The stores are open Monday, Wednesday and Friday and stocked with food from the donation boxes we set up in supermarkets or through businesses supporting us.
I’ve been close to tears when I’ve seen how difficult it can be. The worst was two young kids who’d cycled to the store and asked for food because they hadn’t eaten since breakfast the day before.
The charity assisted 61,000 people so far, which makes me so proud.
I know we’re not going to solve the problem or take away the struggle, but if we can do something to help together, we can make a difference.
To help, visit sop.org.au
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