As the saying goes, a kitchen is the heart of a home. But for CatholicCare Social Services Hunter-Manning in New South Wales, kitchens have become the heart of their community. Source: MNnews.Today.
With five locations across the Hunter-Manning, the team regularly cooks up kindness and offers food, support, and a smile to people who are going without.
In a recent boost for the food programs, Maitland-Newcastle Diocese’s Catholic Community Fund donated $25,000 to refurbish the Hamilton South Community Kitchen.
As a volunteer, CCF executive director and fund manager Jenny Chung knows just how important the service is.
“It supports some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people in our community who need a helping hand,” she said.
“It feels great knowing that our donation will have a positive impact. The staff in the CCF are really proud of the contribution they can make and so are our members.”
CatholicCare Executive Director Gary Christensen is grateful for the backing.
“The support from the Catholic Community Fund goes a long way to helping us support the vulnerable community of Hamilton South,” he said.
“It means we can help this community in the way that we should as a Church and in a way that we should as a Catholic organisation.”
Social Enterprise Executive Manager Priscilla Scanlon said the new kitchen will make a huge difference to the service.
“In the kitchen, we’ve installed a new oven and new freezer/fridge facilities and we’ve got new storage lockers and a bain-marie to make it easier to serve hot food,” she explained.
Mr Christensen said it will allow the service to expand when ready.
“The upgrade of the kitchen means we can provide hot nutritious meals seven days a week as we build up and increase our volunteer base,” he said.
FULL STORY
Cooking up kindness: Donation transforms Hamilton South Community Kitchen (By Elizabeth Symington, MNnews.Today)
