2016 Community Lunches
Stawell Regional Health have worked with the Stawell Neighbourhood House to establish a regular community lunch in Stawell. We celebrated our third community lunch in December 2016, this one with a Christmas theme. The lunch was hailed a huge success for everyone involved. The kitchen at the Neighbourhood House was busting at the seams to produce an amazing three course lunch that over eighty people enjoyed.
The lunch was made possible by using the surplus food from the Melbourne Foodbank and Stawell Woolworths. The food from Stawell Woolworths is collected daily by volunteers and taken to the Neighbourhood House. Organisations and groups then access the food they can use for their food programs. The remaining food is then processed, frozen and stored ready for the lunch.
A combined effort from the Neighbourhood House, Stawell Regional Health, Grampians Community Health and other organisations and groups brought to life the old saying “many hands make light work”. With 20 volunteers involved in food preparation on the day and leading up to the day as well as setting up, serving, clearing, dishes and cleaning up at the end it really was a team effort.
Stawell Regional Health, Primary Care Manager, Shawn Lee who recently started in his new position came to the lunch to meet the community. Shawn found himself up to his arms washing dishes alongside other corporate volunteers from Stawell Primary School, Stawell West Primary School and Stawell Regional Health. Shawn said, “As a newcomer to the community it was a wonderful opportunity for me to meet people at such a fantastic event. The lunch is great way for people to connect with others through a shared meal with laughter and conversation. I look forward to exploring corporate volunteering opportunities like this in the future”.
The Stawell Food Connect working group have focused on food security in our area. Because of this food and the wonderful volunteers we were able to offer a community lunch for a gold coin donation for everyone that attended.
If you would like to know more about the Stawell Food Connect program or the lunch, contact Katrina Toomey, Stawell Regional Health, Health Promotion Coordinator on 53588611.
