Hands needed for growing community lunch initiative

A LOCAL community house has put the call out to residents of Torquay to provide assistance with its rapidly growing community lunches.

Torquay Community House (TCH) is seeking extra hands to assist with its expanding monthly community lunches, with the local neighbourhood house changing the venue of its next lunch due to popular demand.

The lunches, which were first hosted in May and are held on the first Tuesday of each month, provide a warm, safe space for Torquay residents to enjoy a free nutritious meal and benefit from social connection.

The lunches also provide Surf Cost Secondary College students with hands-on hospitality experience to prepare them for future job prospects as part of the school’s Hands-On Learning program, for Year 7, 8, and 9 students.

“When we first started this initiative, I was confident it would grow, knowing the students participating were putting in 110 per cent, but not this quickly,” TCH co-ordinator Prue Challis said.

“The community loves interacting with the students because there is not many opportunities for intergenerational connections.

“I think that’s the special ingredient, we have people coming along purely to support these students, and some residents come along purely to support the students.”

Ms Challis said the most recent community lunch held on August 1, filled the house’s largest room to capacity at 50 people.

The rising popularity of the lunch means the next community lunch, tomorrow on September 5, will be held next door at the Torquay Improvement Association Hall, which fits close to 150 people.

A catering company will handle the majority of the food on the day, with students to take responsibility of the lunch’s desert portion of the menu.

“Following our last lunch, it just felt natural to move it to a bigger venue with a little bit more space,” Ms Challis said.

“The catering company can handle the majority of the workload, just so the students aren’t overwhelmed, but they still feel and are part of the process.”

Ms Challis said following Tuesday’s lunch there are three more lunches scheduled to take place this year for community volunteers to assist with, which also offer business sponsorship opportunities.

The remaining lunches take place on October 3, October 10 (special Seniors event), November 14 and December 5, with chances for community members to volunteer their time.

To get express interest in volunteering, email the house at [email protected] or contact the house directly on 5261 2583.