by Gabriella Vukman
Since 2007 the Foothills Community Care organisation has provided the community with free meals and opportunities to connect and socialise.
As of Wednesday 25 September, the organisation will have facilitated 800 Wednesday community meals services.
Foothills Community Care chief executive officer Steve Barrington confirmed the aid and generosity of local businesses, individuals and organisations have created the foundations for this milestone.
“Community support has been really important over the years. We couldn’t do it without the amazing community support that we receive. We get great support from our terrific pool of volunteers and most of them live incredibly local and are from Ferntree Gully,” he said.
“Whether it is Lynne who is a local resident who for the last 17 years, every fortnight, has provided dessert for all of our guests who come along, or whether it is Ferntree Gully Rotary Club who have been great supporters over the last 10-12 years who provide desserts or soup once a month, or the local CFA, local businesses, local schools, we have got great community buy-in and there are so many amazing community groups and businesses that support what we do in the local community.”
According to Mr Barrington, volunteers don’t just come on a Wednesday night to cook and volunteer, they come to meet other people and create a warm, friendly and welcoming environment.
Ensuring that meals are healthy and nutritious is one of Foothills Community Care’s aims.
“This service is really important because it provides healthy, nutritious meals to people who can’t access them,” Mr Barrington said.
“We have a lot of people who come along who are experiencing homelessness or isolation or going through food insecurity, so for some people who come along, it might be the only nutritious meal they eat that day or even that week.
“More important than the healthy and nutritious meals is the community connection which is one of our main drivers for providing nights like this and why we’ve kept going for 800 nights.”
For Foothills Community Care, it is not just about getting food out to people.
Mr Barrington said, “Whilst feeding people is an important part of it, we exist so that people can feel connected.”
“We see that a lot of people really need that community connection and so nights like this are actually about bringing people together.
“For a lot of people, it might not be their only healthy meal for the week, but it might be that they actually get to sit down with someone else at a table with a real plate and a real knife and fork and sit down and have a chat with someone over a meal.”
Foothills Community Care serves roughly 70 to 80 people on a Wednesday night and distributes around 130 to 140 meals each week.
Offering dine-in and takeaway options, the organisation has served around 65,000 meals so far.
Mr Barrington believes the number of Wednesday night attendees is growing substantially.
“We’ve certainly seen, with the cost of living increase, that a lot more people are coming to our services for dine in or takeaway who have never had to ask for help before,” he said.
“We often have people coming who have come for the first time. We had an elderly gentleman come last week who was just out of hospital and was referred to us through a social worker at the Angliss hospital to come along.
“He’s got multiple challenges in his life and isolation is one of them and he came last night and was just over the moon. He was able to have a healthy meal, sit down with others and have a chat and get a haircut. He just went out with a big smile and he just said he feels pretty isolated as well so he went out with a big smile last night.”
Meals at Foothills Community Care are made fresh on Wednesday nights using rescued food from local supermarkets, businesses and donations.
Leftovers are frozen and delivered to people through services such as the organisation’s Community Casseroles service among other internal and external services.
Mr Barrington said, “Everyone can come and access food parcels on Wednesday nights. We have fresh produce available and anything that is not used there gets distributed to other people within our network or other agencies so nothing gets wasted.”
Whilst Foothills Community Care holds various special meal nights throughout the year such as a winter feast and a men’s and a woman’s night, Mr Barrington confirmed that this 800th weekly meal milestone will be celebrated in a small way.
According to Mr Barrington, in order to ensure another 800 Wednesday community meal nights, local support is greatly needed.
Mr Barrington said, “continued community support is really important. Volunteers, funds and donations are also really important for helping us keep going.”
“It is also important that people don’t just give to and connect with us, but connect with others in the local community.”
“We know for a lot of people, it opens their eyes because when you sit down with someone and you learn about and listen to their life, you actually have a deeper appreciation for what people are going through and for us that is really important.”
Everyone is welcome to attend Foothills Community Care’s Wednesday community meals.
“Our motto over the years has always been ‘everyone is welcome at our table’ and we really see that at our community meals. People don’t need to call, they can come each week and everyone is welcome to come along,” Mr Barrington said.
“Most people come from the immediate area, some people travel because we are on the railway line, we don’t ask people at the door what their situation is before they come in or not.
“Everyone is welcome to come along, all we ask is that people respect others and help to ensure that we all contribute to providing a safe environment for everyone. We strive to build up an inclusive environment where people are connected and they go away with a smile on their faces having spoken to someone or been listened to with a full belly and food to take away with them that they can also share with other people as well.”
For more information about Foothills Community Care or to volunteer or donate, visit their website at: foothillscare.org.au
