URBAN ANGELS Expands
Last week saw a great celebration at Urban Angels …. They have been in their new premises exactly one year! It was also a celebration as they have been able to expand upstairs with more assistance from people like Peter Hall and donations from Alex Rotary!
Wendy Gilson and Tony F represented the Alex team at the celebration, inspecting the expansion and checking out the new upstairs meal packing arena that includes two new freezers.
Urban Angels are currently pumping out 10,000 meals a month to the homeless and needs, PLUS they run the kitchen at the IFYS Hub for Homeless at Kawana that we have visited a few times. The new facilities will mean an initial increase to 12,000 then to 15,000 and hopefully allow expansion to 20,000 meals a month. It’s incredible that in an affluent society there is such a high demand and Birgit, Emma, Michelle and the team do a marvellous job.
Birgit spoke of the successes, the expansion, the support within the community – especially from neighbours “The Men’s Shed” who build things, fix things and grow fresh vegies!
They were keen to share the success and hard work of the team plus many volunteers to achieve a defined growth.
The additional work and storage space means they can take advantages …. Such as the 250kg of chickens last week which is in the new freezers; the van load of UHT Milk on the new shelf units!
The wonderful afternoon tea included home made treats, fresh fruit platter and the celebration chocolate and beetroot cake!
Birgit and IFYS CEO Tony Pinata both mentioned the great support from Rotary.
Rumour has it Wendy was shy when offered the piece of celebration cake but was delighted to take home a piece so she could have it for dessert! The cake looked like a black forest cake without the cherries, but it was actually a very healthy chocolate and beetroot cake, layered with cream filling and hand decorated for the occasion! It tasted great!