Giving people 'choice and dignity', a domestic violence survivor helps feed needy families

Mother-of-three and domestic abuse survivor Paula Zrilic is shining a light on the financial hardship often experienced by domestic abuse survivors.

Inspired by her own experience, Ms Zrilic has launched a local food distribution hub for those struggling to put food on the table in her local area of Tahmoor, in NSW’s Southern Highlands.

“Over two years ago now, I left a marriage that may have seemed the perfect marriage on the outside, but I lived with a lot of domestic violence that I told no-one about,” she told 7.30.

“I remember running away and wanting to call the police but I thought, ‘I’m pregnant, I don’t want to have this baby alone’, because I’d been led to believe that I need him, I can’t do anything on my own.”

“There were nights where I had to literally lay in the grass, hiding from him.

“There were nights where I was locked out of my house, in my pyjamas, with nowhere to go.”

The thought of not being able to support her daughters made it almost impossible for Ms Zrilic to leave.

“The last thing I wanted was for my kids to feel they were poor. I didn’t want them to feel they were going without because their mum decided to leave their dad for whatever reason,” she said.

“I just remember how bad that was, as a parent, to not be able to put food on the table, to be ashamed to ask for help.”

Foodbank meant my daughter could have a birthday party

After leaving her violent partner Ms Zrilic struggled to keep a roof over her children’s heads and sought the help of Foodbank, Australia’s largest food charity, which last year provided more than 60 million meals across Australia.

Foodbank sources its food from all the major Australian food and grocery suppliers, and from farmers and packing sheds.

It allowed her to feed her family while still paying rent and bills.

The assistance was particularly appreciated on her daughter’s birthday.

“I thought ‘we don’t have lounge, we don’t have a TV, like, what kind of party is she going to have?'” Ms Zrilic said.

“Is this going to make her feel poor and worse?

“I will never forget, as a mum, sitting in the car crying because there was Rice Bubbles and there was a packet of chips, so I could make chocolate crackles and have a few friends over for my daughter.”

Giving people choice and dignity

Now Ms Zrilic has launched her own food distribution hub called Our Community Pantry to help people in her local area of Tahmoor.

The food is provided by Foodbank.

“In her area, there’s around about 20,000 people who are on some sort of welfare, so there’s a huge need in that local government area,” Foodbank’s NSW and ACT chief executive Gerry Andersen told 7.30.

“That’s why I created it,” Ms Zrilic said.

“It gave people a feeling of choice, dignity, and that they could actually start rebuilding their lives.

“Most of our families walk out with, in a week they’ll spend $30, and they’re getting roughly what they’d pick up in a grocery store for about $180, including fruit and veg.

“The first thing you give up when in crisis is fruit and veg because it’s so expensive.”

Ms Zrilic’s customers, like Roslyn, who is on a set low income, are grateful for the support.

“I’ve been with nothing in the fridge, nothing in the cupboard and just living on black coffee,” she said.

“I’m finding it harder and harder with the supermarkets to get the quality of food and the price is just outrageous.

“We can’t have people starving and a lot of people are starving.”

Joan Mansfield, one of the many volunteers behind Our Community Pantry, couldn’t agree more.

“There’s a lot of struggling families in Wollondilly, it’s not just struggling families, it’s people out there not coping with electricity bills,” she told 7.30.

A path to a better life

Through her work, Ms Zrilic meets women who have had similar experiences to herself.

“We have women that come to us, that are, they’re in a car, they’re displaced, there’s nowhere to go,” she said.

“I have a lot of women that come to us in those sort of circumstances, unfortunately.”

But her pantry offers them a path to a better life.

“People leave in tears, hugging each other. We see networks of people within the groups actually forming and helping each other through the circumstances that they’ve been through,” Ms Zrilic said.

And she is happy to know that her work is helping those in need.

“Just seeing people walking home with boxes of fruit and veg and smiles, you know, seeing kids holding bags of food, it’s why we do it.”

This post originally appeared on ABC News.