After Adelaide restaurant Shōbōsho was forced to close due to coronavirus restrictions, chef Adam Liston and his team put a generous call out to help those most vulnerable in the community. Every day since the start of April, ingredients from the WestCare kitchen are delivered to the restaurant and Adam applies his culinary skills. Providing more than 150 takeaway meals each day, this has enabled Baptist Care SA to continue to provide basic necessities to our clients, and also to the residents of our Homeless Respite Centre, with any spares being frozen for Emergency Relief.
Local ‘Café outside the Square’ (Whitmore Square) has also been cooking batches of soup for our clients a couple of times a week. We have received positive feedback from clients who say they are enjoying the interesting variety. It’s wonderful to see such kindness, compassion and generosity of spirit.
In April, we received an email from local author Meredith Resce. She had boxes of beautifully printed novels that she thought may be useful to our clients, many of whom are experiencing homelessness. Personally delivered to Wright Street in the city, around 100 of Meredith’s books are now on the shelves at Baptist Care SA’s Homeless Respite Centre. The Centre provides interim accommodation and care for people leaving hospital with no safe place to call home.
At the end of March, we were thrilled to receive a very generous offer from The Stamford Group. Like many other hotels, The Stamford Grand Adelaide was severely affected by the closures and cancellations resulting from COVID-19. Rather than see their quality produce go to waste, they contacted Baptist Care SA to donate large quantities of food for the WestCare Centre kitchen and Community Food Hub which provide meals and food parcels to people in Adelaide doing it tough.
On Good Friday, we were delighted to receive an email from Fiona Fryar of KI Eggs. As producers of free range eggs on Kangaroo Island, they had been significantly affected by the sudden closure of cafés and restaurants due to COVID-19 restrictions. Fiona kindly offered her eggs to Baptist Care SA’s WestCare Centre and Community Food Hub. Kitchen Coordinator Heather was thrilled to accept a weekly delivery of 5 boxes from Fiona and her team, and with 15 dozen per box, that is 900 eggs donated every week!