Delivering hope

A group of volunteers is helping the vulnerable in the community through food and friendship.

As Sydney’s strictest lockdown took hold and COVID case numbers soared, people who were already struggling in the city’s south-west were plunged into a desperate winter. The suburbs that were most affected by Delta were also those that were hardest hit economically. Even before COVID, these were the areas where people earned least and had the fewest savings. Many were employed in vulnerable industries and lost jobs, and many of those were migrants or refugees who were ineligible for government welfare, so without work they had no way to put food on the table or keep a roof above their heads. But if there was a silver lining it was that these suburbs also possess a powerful sense of community, and they’re home to a group of 30 women – all local mums – whose purpose in life is to lift their neighbours up.

“When we started off,” says the Community Care Kitchen’s President, Rima Waizani, “the idea was that, if you cooked too much food one night and you didn’t want it to go to waste, you could reach out to us, and we would give it to a family who had no dinner that night or no lunch the next day.”

Community Care Kitchen (CCK) was co-founded by Rima and her friend Sana Karanouh, and eight years later the charity delivers hot meals, food hampers, school lunches, gift vouchers, emergency cash donations – and most importantly, hope – to thousands in their local community.