When restaurants closed during Covid Port Phillip Estate chefs went to work preparing delicious meals to donate to Western Port Community Support's (WPCS) Fresh Food program. Five years later the partnership continues.
WPCS provides emergency support for people in the Hastings area at risk of being homeless or experiencing homelessness, financial hardship, family violence, and/or food insecurity. A beautifully cooked, tasty, ready to heat meal is a welcome addition to WPCS provisions.
MPF takes care of the cost of the ingredients, Port Phillip Estate provides the time and expertise of their chefs to cook the meals, plus volunteers from their admin and vineyard teams roll up their sleeves and help out each week at the Fresh Food program.
WPCS Executive Director Georgia Hourn says, "The staff are all so willing and keen, they jump right in to help unpack the food delivery truck, sort the 2 tonnes of food we receive, and engage so well with the 100 plus clients who attend the program each week. This part of the collaboration is a huge success and helps us out enormously during the Winter when a lot of our volunteers go on holidays."
This collaboration is a wonderful example of small grants that make a big difference, and that there are multiple ways people in our MPF community work together.