Alyssa Fritzlaff
MICK’S Kitchen is partnering with local hospitality businesses to help those in need.
The outreach service has received a community grant from Latrobe City Council to help local businesses bounce back as restrictions ease.
Mick’s will be working with one local business a week to provide takeaway meals for people
experiencing food insecurity.
Mick’s Kitchen is an initiative from St Michael’s Parish in Traralgon, and aims to provide
community members with fresh, balanced meals – free of charge.
Each week a main meal and dessert will be provided.
There are six groups of volunteers, and each of these teams has partnered with multiple hospitality businesses that were keen to get involved.
Alby Van Berkel is one of six team leaders, and is behind the team partnering with the Wine Down Bar – this week’s meal provider.
“There’s at least 18 businesses that we are hoping be able to help… all the businesses have already been paid – one of the conditions from Latrobe City Council was they all have to be paid by the end of September,” he said.
Through this support, Mick’s Kitchen will continue to partner with local businesses over the next two months.
Jessi Young, of the Wine Down Bar is excited to be a part of this initiative.
“We’ve got a great community down here – and it’s great to be a part of it… initiatives like this are able to put two chefs in the kitchen for a couple of hours and support our employees. We are missing our crowds for sure,” she said.
Ms Young said the business has been impacted by the pandemic.
“Out of the two years since the pandemic started, our café has been closed for almost a year of that …it got too hard to keep changing so we just made the decision to close until next year,” she said.
Before the pandemic, the team from Mick’s would set up shop at the St Vincent de Paul Centre on Kay Street, which allowed guests to enjoy company in a restaurant type atmosphere.
However, restrictions have seen operations change, instead they have been providing takeaway meals – of which Mick’s Kitchen is aiming to provide 50 per week.
On Thursday last week, they partnered with their first local business, the Wine Down Bar in
Traralgon.
Since the pandemic, Mick’s Kitchen have seen new families accessing their services for the first time.
Mr Van Berkel said that he believes there is a correlation between the increase in new people presenting to the service.
“I certainly think that there would be a correlation, people have found it tough…there are
obviously people who have lost jobs because of the pandemic, so they certainly look forward to can opportunity where they can get something to tie them over,” he said.
Mick’s Kitchen was established in 2016 as a response from parishioners who saw a need for
everyone in the community to have a least one nutritious meal per week.
Over the next few months, Mick’s will be serving up a variety of different cuisines.
Upcoming providers include Glengarry Hotel, Stellina, Frankies and My Italy Your Greece.
“If you’re struggling come and see not only Mick’s Kitchen, but put your name in at Vinnies,
they’ve got quite a stock of food that they can give to people… and they can also help with other things,” Mr Van Berkel said.
