Living and Learning Inc, in Pakenham have been successful in obtaining a large grant from the Andrews Foundation to develop and operate a community kitchen, which is such an exciting opportunity for the centre and the community.
The Andrews Foundation is devoted to improving the quality of life in the South-East region of Victoria. They support grants and organisations with innovative ideas that help create a positive and long-lasting impact on the communities.
Living Learning Pakenham (LLP) support a wide range of communities and groups and throughout the year, we hold special events including Harmony Day, World Refugee Day and hold a celebration for our English Language and Computer class students at graduation ceremonies and community lunches.
The initial concept was to develop a program for the community where you use what you have sown in the garden to make nutritious, inexpensive meals for your family and community. We aim to support LLPs’ sustainability and waste reduction by providing a space to cook surplus food from the community garden and promote practices, such as composting and responsible sourcing of ingredients. This program will provide education in food security and healthy eating.
LLP want the community kitchen to be a gathering place where the community and its residents can cook together and build relationships, strengthen social ties, and create a sense of belonging by overcoming language and cultural barriers.
LLP will be consulting the community and centre users, as we want to incorporate as many ideas as we can on how we can promote and use the community kitchen; we aim to open the kitchen in the middle of 2026.
