KERANG Christian College students have joined a community effort to provide meals to people in need.
Yesterday was the beginning of the Kerang Neighbourhood House pilot food assistance cooking program.
Uniting with local community groups and the school, KNH is making use of Kerang Bowling Club’s commercial kitchen to cook and prepare meals to be frozen for people in need and available from the Scoresby Street neighbourhood house.
The first group to be involved was the Kerang Christian College, who helped cooking up 50 meals of curried sausages and rice that were frozen and ready for collection.
Kerang Christian College chaplain Aleisha Pryor said the school was excited to do something that contributed to the community.
“I think it’s good to get some of the young people down here to see how they can contribute,” Ms Pryor said
“All the students helping out are in some form of cooking elective, with one of our students here doing a Year 11 cooking subject.”
Other community groups have committed to the program, including Avenue Health, Northern District Community Health and Murray Mallee Local Learning Employment Network. Kerang police will also take part.
KNH manager Sue Lacey said the food assistance program was a vital service to the region, providing residents with about $260,000 in food relief in 2022.
“The need for this service has increased in the past 12 months thanks to increasing food prices, interest rates and last year’s floods,” Ms Lacey said.
“Although this project is a three-month trial, we are actively applying for grants to ensure this service will run for the next 12 months.
“If we are not successful in obtaining funding, we will put the program on pause while we apply for funding from alternative sources or seeking community donations.
Community groups or businesses that would like to participate in the program should call Kerang Neighbourhood House on 5452 2522.
