Chris Marsh and Marie Magdziarz are delivering warmth, light and hope with the Cranbourne Food Truck.
By Rachel Alembakis
When does a food truck become more than just a food truck?
When it delivers warmth, light and hope, along with meals.
The Cranbourne Food Truck, run by volunteers from the Cranbourne Uniting Church, doesn’t just serve food; it fills a critical gap in food relief by bringing meals and essential supplies directly to those in need.
More than that, it creates a safe, welcoming space where people can share food, support, and community.
At the heart of this mission are Chris Marsh, the church’s secretary, and Marie Magdziarz, food truck administrator, who ensure the food truck not only operates efficiently but also fosters genuine connection.
Three nights a week, the food truck sets up in different locations: Mondays and Wednesdays from 6.30pm at the Lyall Street carpark behind the Westpac Bank, and on Saturdays from 6.30pm at Cranbourne Uniting Church on Lesdon Avenue.
When parked, the bright red vehicle unfolds like a Transformer, revealing a serving area, a coffee and tea nook, and shelves stocked with extra food supplies for people to take home.
While the group serves many people experiencing homelessness, Chris and Marie are seeing a rise in working families who need assistance as the cost-of-living crisis bites hard.
It’s part of the reason why the food truck operates at night, so that people who are working but doing it tough can get some relief and a warm meal, or a parcel of goods to cook at home to feed families.
Crises that require emergency food supplies don’t often conform to office hours, which is why the food truck is open from 6.30pm.
The people who visit the food truck for a meal also provide community support to each other.
“If someone’s just lost their job and they come to the truck for the first time, then they’ve got all this information from the people who are already there,” Chris says.
“While we have information about services in the area, many times other guests let newcomers know where people can go to get help with rent assistance, or help to pay the gas bill, or where other food trucks operate on other nights.”
Different groups come on different days and for different reasons.
The majority of guests on Mondays and Wednesdays are men, and may be living rough, Marie says.
“From my understanding, there’s at least one person who’s living in a tent,” she says.
“They could be living in a car, or they might be living in a rooming house and may or may not know how to cook.
“They can heat up a tin of baked beans, but that might be the limit of their capability.
“There are people with addiction issues and also some with intellectual or mental health issues.
“Saturdays at Cranbourne Uniting Church tend to see more women (because) it’s indoors, it’s safer and there’s the carpark.”
Grocery donations come from Foodbank, local bakeries, hospitality businesses, supermarkets, and individuals.
The food truck is also a beacon of resilience.
It started in January 2011 after a member of the congregation pointed out that there were people living rough at the local racecourse, and another member, who was involved with the CFA, let the congregation know that an ex-CFA catering truck was for sale.
This led to the Cranbourne Uniting Church congregation agreeing that a food truck service would suit their community.
The service paused for nearly two years during Covid-19, pivoting to distributing food parcels instead and, even after restrictions lifted, demand didn’t ease.
By Christmas last year, the number of families relying on food parcels had jumped from six to eight during the pandemic to 25 families.
“Even though we were an outdoor service, we weren’t allowed to operate because of the Covid-19 restrictions, so we thought, ‘well, what are we going to do’,” Chris explains.
“People weren’t able to work and we had people that were in need in our own congregation.
“We were able to still go to the hub in Dandenong and pick up fruit and vegetables and other food stuff, so we started doing food parcels during the pandemic.”
Like many volunteer-driven services, the food truck needs more hands on deck, especially drivers with the right licences.
Donations come from Foodbank, local bakeries, hospitality businesses, supermarkets, and individuals, but getting supplies to those in need involves constant pickups, deliveries, and logistics.
Marie and Chris manage it all with expertise, with Marie’s background in human services and Chris’s experience in logistics for a major supermarket chain helping to keep everything running smoothly.
For them, this work isn’t just charity, it’s personal.
The women trade stories with an obvious affection for the work they do, and for each other as colleagues.
They both say that working on the food truck is a way of being active in their community.
“I think it’s just part of our DNA,” Chris says.
“It’s about being productive in the community, and I’ve been a member of this church for 35 years, so it just makes sense that that’s part of my service for this congregation.”
Marie, who took the job with the food truck after taking an early retirement, agrees.
“I wanted to work for a not-for-profit particularly, and because I’d come from human services work, I understood the need for this sort of service out in the real world,” she says.
“There’s a need for it, and it’s the sort of work that I really like doing.”
You can support the Cranbourne Food Truck by volunteering, especially if you have a light rigid truck licence, by donating food, supplies, or financial support, and by spreading the word to those who might want to help.
Contact Marie Magdziarz on 0455 121077 or thefoodtruck00@gmail.com to get involved.
