LOCATED within the Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre, volunteer fuelled Our Kitchen Social Enterprise is promoting learning while producing high-quality meals.<\/p>\n
The effort is based around hospitality and kitchen classes on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays with the Feed Local Free Food program operating on Fridays.<\/p>\n
Our Kitchen\u2019s workforce development advisor Donna Tucker said unlike the vocational kitchen courses, the free food program is completely volunteer run.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kitchen is staffed by the students who are learning on the job and our output which culminates on Fridays where we have the free food program,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough it\u2019s a great way to learn basic kitchen skills, a lot of the students come in to practice their conversational English and be a part of a team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The initiative is currently supported by a range of community partners including SecondBite, Ballarat Community Health, FareShare, Hidden Orchard, Food Access Network, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Salvation Army, Coles, Aldi, The Freight Bar, City of Ballarat, the Ballarat Foundation.<\/p>\n
Though each of these organisations have a hand in helping to supply, fund or distribute the free food project, Ms Tucker said it wouldn\u2019t be possible without the volunteers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment we\u2019re doing around 260 meals a week and each of those go out with a hamper, we get a lot of bread, fruit and veg and try to provide a staples pack,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no screening process, you don\u2019t have to prove your starving, if you need the help, we\u2019ll help you and you can get a free meal.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a diverse cohort of volunteers on board, Ms Tucker said the project is consistently serving up healthy, well rounded and interesting meals.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes the volunteers will bring beautiful recipes for curries and dahl, depending on who is on and no matter what it is, we try to work with what is donated,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of our volunteers are previous students or their friends and we currently have more volunteers than space to keep them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chef and tutor David Bending utilises his professional cooking and management experience to guide the team to create fun recipes in a positive environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cDave, our chef, is a bit of a magician and can make amazing stuff from anything that comes in,\u201d Ms Tucker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost like a family, Dave is talented but he\u2019s also an amazing teacher and fosters a real sense of team in the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the cooking component is his forte, Bending said the best thing is the sense of support everyone gives each other in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all from different walks of life, different education levels but we all support each other, that\u2019s what social enterprising is all about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LOCATED within the Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre, volunteer fuelled Our Kitchen Social Enterprise is promoting learning while producing high-quality meals. The effort is based around hospitality and kitchen classes on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays with the Feed Local Free Food program operating on Fridays. Our Kitchen\u2019s workforce development advisor Donna Tucker said unlike the vocational kitchen […]<\/p>\n