By Casey Neill
Avocare fears Dandenong North’s needy could go hungry if the charity can’t find a new kitchen for its weekly meal.
A Christmas dinner on Wednesday 21 December will be its final at the Menzies Avenue kitchen due to a faulty grease trap.
Greater Dandenong Council’s community services director Mark Doubleday said Avocare was granted temporary use of the kitchen in 2013 to hold training programs for local residents and the programs had been very successful.
“Unfortunately the kitchen is no longer suitable for Avocare due to a regulatory issue,” he said.
“The council is working with Avocare to find a suitable alternative location to enable the training programs to continue.”
Avocare director Trish Keilty said that the council was decommissioning the kitchen because the grease trap was inadequate and the price tag to fix it was $60,000.
“They’ve been trying to work with me to find another kitchen,” she said.
“I haven’t found a solution yet.
“But I’d like to keep feeding those who’ve been loyal to Avocare over the last four years.
“They depend on it.”
Ms Keilty said that each Wednesday people started lining at 2pm for the 4pm meal and to collect a bag of groceries worth about $30 – all for a $1 coin.
Up to 130 people attend each week.
“Senior citizens are going to miss out on meals,” she said.
“Some of them take enough meals to keep them going for a few days during the week so they don’t have to cook.”
On other days of the week, the kitchen crew has cooked free meals for the seniors clubs, rooming house and emergency accommodation boarders and more.
The produce is “rescued” from Avocare’s warehouse, which supplies charities and soup kitchens across Melbourne’s south-east.
“We need a kitchen where we can have at least 15 to 20 people including the chef and we need it Monday to Friday,” Ms Keilty said.
“I just don’t know where to turn.
“I don’t know how I’m going to feed these people.”
Kelvin has attended the meal each week since it started and got wind of the closure late last month.
He said he sought answers from the council but was not provided with any explanation.
“Why has the council been so secretive about this?” he said.
“I’m on a disability pension.
“It’s a big help to people on low incomes, with big families, who are unemployed.
“They’re helping to train people working for the dole, too.
“The line-up of people on a Wednesday varies.
“You can always rely on at least 50 people turning up – they’re families with kids, elderly people, all kinds of people.
“These are the kinds of people the council is supposed to be helping.”
Kelvin fears what will happen if Avocare can’t find a new location.
“When you’re on the pension you just struggle that bit harder,” he said.
“There’s no other places like that. Where are they going to open up?
“It was so handy to have there. I just live around the corner.”
He was able to walk to the service and worries how he’ll access it in another location.
“It’d be a lot more difficult with public transport,” he said.
Kelvin said the bag of groceries included many items close to best-before dates.
“That’s also helping landfill,” he said.
“If that doesn’t get delivered by charities, all of that is going to go straight to landfill.”
To help Avocare, call 9793 9766 or email avocare.org.au.
