Michael Page OAM, committee chairman, Monday Tucker
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
EVERY Monday evening Rotarians and volunteers serve meals to our community. The group serves a large range of nutritious meals to 70-plus community members, who are struggling with poverty, unemployment, family issues, youth homelessness, community isolation and loneliness.
The group serves meals including soups, roasts, sausages, rissoles, spaghetti Bolognese, stews and casseroles, vegetables, salads, bread, desserts, cordial, fruit, tea and coffee.
Monday Tucker started in October 2012, with 20 to 30 people attending each week. We now serve up to 70 to 80 and the numbers are increasing.
The people who attend come for a much-needed nutritious hot meal, as well as an opportunity to socialise with other members of the community.
We have young couples with small children, single parents, homeless youth and the elderly, unemployed and many who are finding it tough to survive, all looking for a meal and social contact.
We are now reaching out to more of the community that may be in need of what Monday Tucker provides.
We have delivered information to other organisations, including all primary and secondary schools in the Sale area, Central Gippsland Health, Kilmany Family Care, Latrobe Community Health, social workers, medical clinics, Youth Insearch, the Salvos and all other welfare agents.
The group partners are the Rotary Club of Sale, Victoria Police, Sale Memorial Hall, and supported by Wellington Shire Council.
The Rotary Club of Sale provides the volunteers to supply, prepare, cook and serve each week. Rotary is responsible for the management of accounts and general expenditure.
While some food is donated, more is required at retail prices. We also need to pay to the Memorial Hall, costs of gas and electricity each month.
Rotary uses its liability insurance to cover all volunteers.
Wellington Shire Library supplies free books for the children, novels and magazines.
Clean linen is supplied for our tables each week, while we have arranged to set up free hearing checks.
The Rotary Club of Sale was alerted to the need in our community through our work dealing with youth in our area.
We formed partnerships with Victoria Police, council and others to provide an evening meal and social contact for members of our community, who are finding it difficult to make ends meet financially or need social contact in their daily lives.
We were initially funded with a grant from Victoria Police. We are now operating on the generous support of local traders, small donations from the community and the Wellington Shire Community Grant.
Our communities are hurting, Sale is struggling at the grassroots in many areas, such as youth homelessness, young struggling couples and families, community isolation, family issues, loneliness, family violence, disengaged youth and poverty.
As a concerned and caring community, the Rotary Club of Sale has seen this need and we are helping to address this, as best we can, but we require funding to continue.
Over the eight years, we have estimated that more than 24,000 meals have been served. This has only been possible through the generosity of our supporters and members and their partners of the Rotary Club of Sale.
Volunteer hours have been estimated to be more than 2240 since Monday Tucker began.
We have been given information from Youth Insearch that the young at risk, who have been separated from their home and other family members, use Monday Tucker as a place to have a meal and catch-up with family and friends instead of meeting in the child protection offices.
It is a great social interaction, increasing their self-esteem and confidence. They now feel and see Monday Tucker as a safe and secure environment, getting to know the volunteers and others attending and feeling more comfortable in a nonjudgmental environment.
A class at Gippsland Grammar, called Future Problem Solvers, has conducted surveys at Monday Tucker to find what our people wanted. The students then raised $250 at school and purchased 40 blankets, hygiene packs of soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste to distribute to the needy.
We are registered with Share the Dignity and hand out sanitary items to homeless and at-risk woman. We also hold sleeping bags, swags and comfort packs for people who are homeless or sleeping rough.
I would like to acknowledge and thank all partners, supporters, volunteers and all members of our club, who have given freely of their time and expertise in this project.
In the future, we will introduce food nutrition education, basic cooking techniques, budget preparation, increasing skills in buying and selecting nutritious food and utilising our Engaging Disengaged Youth program, to introduce participates to the Community Garden, Go Youth camps and Wild 4 Program at Licola.
It was a great surprise and a fantastic recognition to our volunteers, to be announced the 2017 Community Group of the Year, at the Wellington Shire Australia Day awards. This award belongs to all our volunteers and helpers and has also highlighted the needs in our community.
