Community teams up to deliver care packages to veterans

AN OCEAN Grove café and the local Rotary club have teamed up again this year to deliver care packages to veterans across the Bellarine Peninsula.

The team at Driftwood Café and the Ocean Grove Rotary Club came together last Sunday (April 21) to assemble and deliver more than 50 packages filled with pantry essentials, each valued between approximately $160-$170.

Each package included meals made by Driftwood Café owner Ty Simons, Anzac cookies made by Simons’ sister, as well as items such as milk, bread, eggs, a bottle of wine and both sweet and savory treats.

Mr Simons said the initiative, now in its fifth year, was about acknowledging the community’s local veterans for their contributions and the care packages are always well received.

“A lot of [the veterans we give packages to] are on their own, living at home, so it’s just a nice little thank you to them…just to show our appreciation.

“Unfortunately, the most we [delivered] was three years ago – we did 64 or 65 – and the numbers have dropped a little bit since then. A lot of [the veterans] are getting on.”

He said, more recently, younger veterans who served in more recent conflicts have also received care packages.

“They like the recognition and to be thought of,” Mr Simons said.

The initiative has gained a growing number of supporters since it first began in 2020, and was this year made possible by the financial support of the Carlson family and the Killingsworth family, along with several of Driftwood Café’s suppliers who donated approximately 50 per cent of the items included in the care packages.

“My suppliers are really, really happy to be a part of it,” Mr Simons said.

“Particularly this year, it was harder to ask [my suppliers to support the cause] because it has been a tough year, I think, for everybody.

“But people were pretty forthcoming, so it was great.”

He said although organising the care packages was a “huge amount of work”, it was a rewarding experience that the café and Rotary club are eager to continue.

“We’ll be back again in 12 months’ time.”