Struggling Dubbo residents who need a nutritious bite to eat can now get free meals on Macquarie Street every Wednesday.
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To help the homeless population and people who find it hard to pay for food, the Orana Support Service launched the Meals on the Main initiative last week.
"There's other charities in Dubbo that do it on a Friday so we wanted to do it on a different night so people in need are getting a couple of meals available throughout the week," Orana Support Service manager Tina Reynolds said.
"Most of the people helping out are clients.
"We want to make it a community thing where they feel comfortable with us, where they build their confidence up with us so we can actually help them feel comfortable using the service."
Donated pasta, sausages and fruit were some of the items on the menu at the first Meals on the Main gathering.
"We also have people from the community bringing in muffins and we also belong to Foodbank; Woolworths are a great support and we do OzHarvest as well," Ms Reynolds told the Daily Liberal.
"We've got a lot of community support which is really great."
According to Ms Reynolds, the number of people in the community who are requesting assistance from Orana Support Service has increased slightly.
"I don't think they have the extra money to spend like they would have previously had," she said.
"We are handing out food to clients at least five to 10 times a day.
"We've even changed our reception area so it's more friendly for people to come in and sit down, grab a bottle of water, grab some fruit... we have biscuits up there as well."
Ms Reynolds said between 40 and 50 people were on waiting lists for accommodation places Orana Support Service manages.
She said increasing the number of accommodation places and reducing waiting lists were major priorities.
"We just don't have enough properties to house people," Ms Reynolds said.
"The women's refuge only has six rooms and we get people from Dubbo, Bourke, Brewarinna, Gilgandra and Wellington so there's definitely not enough rooms.
"Eventually we would like to have a bigger refuge in Dubbo."
In addition to securing more crisis accommodation places, Ms Reynolds said Orana Support Service was focused on increasing the supply of transitional accommodation places, which would provide a home for people while they were supported to secure a private rental property.
Meals on the Main runs from 5.30-7.30pm every Wednesday out the front of the Orana Support Service building at 31-37 Macqurie Street in Dubbo.
