We all are aware of how difficult this year has been for so many people, both locally and globally. So many struggling to make ends meet, as well as dealing with restrictions and isolation.
Throughout this time there have been many great community responses to supporting others.
We at Foothills Community Care have seen our demands skyrocket. Since March we have distributed over 18,000 meals and care packages. Many of these have been delivered to local residents in Knox and the Dandenong Ranges in need of an extra hand.
One response recently was to host the Big Father’s Day Drive 2020. We delivered over 650 gourmet fresh meals and special care packages to more than 210 households on Saturday 5 September, in time for Father’s Day. These meals were available to anyone in our community. People could either nominate someone else or themselves to receive them.
We were able to do this with the great support of our awesome volunteer team who put this all together, including cooking 400 lamb roast meals, and via our contactless delivery service. We also had a great team of supporters, Red Coral Seafood, Confoil, Pinchapoo and Impression Print from Bayswater, Ferntree Gully Rotary Club and our special executive chefs from The Park in Albert Park who cooked our other gourmet meals of salmon sausages, fish pie, creamy mushroom pasta, and vegan pasta.
These meals helped remind people that they are not alone at this time even though we are physically restricted and isolated.
We received so many positive notes of thanks and it is best summed up by this message: ‘Thank you so much for the meals and presents we received yesterday. You have no idea the difference this makes in our lives. We have been on our own for many months now and this has been very difficult. The care package was a pleasant surprise and so generous. The body wash and hand soaps are very useful, as are the socks, mug, chocolate. Thank you’.
To find out more or lend your support, you can visit the Foothills Community Care website – or read more in the Gully News story here.
Stephen Barrington
Foothills Community Care
