EVERY year, the Salvation Army Hall on Mundy Street provides Christmas lunch for those in the community who would otherwise spend the day alone.<\/p>\n
For the past four, the spread has been cooked by local woman and cook Joy Doran who began volunteering with the church after they provided support to one of her children.<\/p>\n
The Salvos provide groceries to people in need and when Ms Doran realised some of the recipients didn\u2019t know how to cook, she began preparing frozen meals for them to take instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever they\u2019ve got, I try and make meals out of,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere used to be a show on TV called Ready, Steady, Cook, that was me, the ready steady cook, you make a meal out of what\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Doran\u2019s speciality is not one particular dish but rather pulling together a satisfying meal from what she is given or finds in the pantry.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Christmas lunch will be no different with the menu already being shaped from gifted ingredients.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got donated some beautiful pastry shells this year, I don\u2019t have to make them this year,\u201d Ms Doran said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m going to make onion and beetroot tarts with a little bit of goats cheese and I\u2019ve got some balsamic dressing there so I\u2019ll finish it off with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although she whips up the odd experiment, Christmas lunch keeps to tradition with roast veggies and three types of meat, including a donated ham that Ms Doran bakes.<\/p>\n
Last year the Salvos welcomed 130 guests on Christmas Day and with similar numbers expected this year Ms Doran and her longtime assistant Kylie Thomson are getting ready to spend up to three days preparing lunch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think people realise all the things the Salvation Army do,\u201d she said. \u201cI just do my bit, if everybody gave a little bit it would be a better world.\u201d<\/p>\n
As some of us surely know, Christmas is not always an easy time of year and events such as the Salvos Christmas Day lunch provide a place to connect, which Ms Doran said is just as important.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just for people that haven\u2019t got anything, it\u2019s for lonely people that want to spend time with other people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about trying to make Christmas a good time, a happy time for people, that\u2019s what it\u2019s about.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EVERY year, the Salvation Army Hall on Mundy Street provides Christmas lunch for those in the community who would otherwise spend the day alone. For the past four, the spread has been cooked by local woman and cook Joy Doran who began volunteering with the church after they provided support to one of her children. […]<\/p>\n