In 2021, a small group of devoted community members began doing what they could to ensure homeless people in their area were getting a hot meal, Yahoo News reports.
Initially feeding a modest 15 people on a Sunday night in Perth's Fremantle, they've seen that number spiral to up to 60 and now provide meals on Thursdays and public holidays.
"We're seeing new people, those we haven't seen before and we're also seeing people we've been seeing for a long time so nothing is changing for them," Freo Street Kitchen group member Ann Reeves told Yahoo News Australia.
"I think that despondency, and the fact they're about to face another winter, it's heartbreaking."
Ms Reeves said it's alarming to witness an increase in younger people attending the street kitchen, with some mothers also taking meals home for their children.
"We see mainly men on the street, we don't know where the women are going and that's concerning. I just hope they have somewhere safe to go."
The Freo Street Kitchen is one of many community based groups to pop up in recent years around the country as residents look to tackle the homelessness problem, often dismayed by the responses of state and federal governments.
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Cost of living crisis: Photo lays bare 'heartbreaking' Aussie problem (Yahoo News)
PHOTO
The volunteer group has seen numbers needing help spiral as Australia's homeless problem reaches new levels. Source: Supplied
