Knox Australia Day Awards 2022
Congratulations to Knox City Council's 2022 Volunteer of the Year, Maggie Hawkins.
It is always heart warming to see the work that Australians are willing to put into helping those around us.
This year I had the privilege of being nominated for Knox Australia Day Awards 2022 but it wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing volunteers supporting the causes coordinating, cooking and distributing 100s of hot rescue meals to those in need every week.
We are always looking for more volunteers and we are in fact in the process of forming a Not For Profit.
The focus of the group is around delivering chef quality hot meals to those in need using excess retail food, responding to disaster relief with field kitchens and embracing community.
If this is something that interests you, please reach out to find out how you could get involved!
#volunteersmakeadifference #knoxaustraliadayawards2022
meals for aussies having a hard time
The Chinese Association on Victoria is lending its kitchen to The Food Affectionist (Lillie Giang) who is spearheading an initiative to help out those who are doing it tough because of Covid and natural disasters in Victoria.
With donated food from Outer East Foodshare, Foodbank Victoria, SecondBite, OzHarvest Melbourne and other charitable organisations, Lillie has the challenging task of sculpting whatever that has been donated, into scrumptious meals for the disadvantaged.
This week with volunteer sous chefs Shirley Teh and Shirley Tong, they created a tasty menu consisting of Fried Rice, Massaman Curry Jackfruit and Vegetables, Apple & Pear Crumble with Coconut Salted caramel and Stir fried Spaghetti and notched up a total of 160 meals!
These meals will be collected and delivered to various agencies. So please reach out if you or someone you know could do with a meal or two. They are free.
If you want to help, please give Shirley Teh at CAV a call. The initiative is also looking for financial support so that they can add some protein into the meals (most of the donations are almost-expired vegetables and carbohydrates). Lillie has been sponsoring a large part of this, so if you can make a small donation, let Lillie know. Or let me know, and we will get it to her.
If there is a little voice in your head recognising how lucky you have been thus far, feel free to pay it forward so that some lucky person who has fallen on hard times will get a free meal. After all, it could have been you.
Paul Harris Fellow Award for Lillie
It is an honour for The Food Affectionist, Lillie Giang to be bestowed the Paul Harris Fellow award by the Rotary Club of Maroondah.
Lillie is grateful for this award and would like to acknowledge all the support of friends, and the many volunteers and businesses who have assisted her to help the community in need.
Lillie The ambassador
Lillie was recently appointed as a Multicultural Ambassador for the Mental Health Foundation Australia.
Storm Support for Kalorama
On Saturday 26th June and Sunday 27th June, we were proud to be part of the storm support program for the relief and recovery efforts for the Kalorama & Mt Dandenong Vic Region. With the amazing support of generous donations, a task that could not have been achieved without all your help we managed to do nearly 800 meals over the two days, for the beautiful residents and emergency service crews at Kalorama. Everyone enjoyed the quality and freshness of the food; I am beyond grateful to you all.
We would like to thank the following businesses and individuals for their generous donations:
Chef's Pantry, BioPak, No 1 Food Products Noodles, Costco, Food Factory Sales - Bayswater, David Key - Total Harvest Protection by Key Permaculture, Roger Smith - PSA Plastics Solutions Australia, Knox Community Gardens Society Inc, Susan Guo & Karen Teh, David & Faye W, Dianne & Neil W, Kay & John A, David & Pranom M, Cheria Yuki Tan, Sharon Porter.
It’s companies and generous people like you that understand the true meaning of community spirit when a disaster happens, so Thank You again for your generous donation. Please remember to support the businesses that support us.
MOVING CLASSES ONLINE During Covid-19
Finding comfort and joy in home cooking
The aromas of freshly cooked meals continued to flow throughout households in Knox, as “food therapy” provided distraction and entertainment during the lockdown. For Chef Instructor Lillie Giang, there was no hesitation in adapting to the online world to continue hosting cooking lessons and participating in online events. She continued to run classes on Zoom for The Basin Community House, along with another weekly session for NDIS National Disability Insurance Scheme students.
“We’ve had a lot of people connecting to those online classes because community centres have been closed during COVID and no one had anywhere to go to connect with others,” Lillie said. “At the end of the classes we sit and have a chat, and it’s been a way where people can connect together.”
Lillie has also spent time cooking meals for people in need with the Mental Health Foundation Australia, as part of their COVID-19 meal delivery program, and created a Facebook Foodie page to stay connected and help her students. “I try to connect with this group and make sure everyone is okay. If I can’t help them, then I try to link them with others who can,” Lillie said.
A regular presenter at the Stringybark Festival, COVID-19 restrictions also meant Lillie’s planned segment for the Basin Community House had to move online. “We were planning to present on a livestream at the Basin Community House. But when we went into Stage 4 lockdown, I created my own videos in my own yard,” Lillie said. The theme of Lillie’s event was “plot to pot,” taking sustainability and waste reduction as an inspiration for her meals. “The whole idea revolved around composting and growing your own produce, then taking it straight from the garden and putting it into your pot,” Lillie said.
For a virtual audience of Festival attendees, Lillie created a Japanese Okonomiyaki and an Italian Panzanella salad; two recipes that help reduce food waste. “I make the Okonomiyaki once or twice a week before I go food shopping. It’s a delicious pancake and nothing goes to waste,” Lillie said.“Everybody that has tried making this recipe loves it!”
Some of Lillie’s Basin Community Centre cooking classes are continuing online but live classes are back.
Article previously published on the City of Knox website at https://www.knox.vic.gov.au/Page/Page.aspx?Page_Id=6167