By JESSE GRAHAM
A COMMUNITY meal program that has served up thousands of meals celebrated its ninth birthday last week, with cake, smiles and a warm dinner.
The weekly Dinner at Darron’s program was started by volunteers at Healesville Interchurch Community Care Incorporated (HICCI) on 4 October 2005 and marked its ninth birthday on Tuesday 7 October.
About 40 people attend the dinner each Tuesday from 5.30pm to 6.30pm at the Darron Honey Centre at Healesville’s Uniting Church, and the room was packed for the ninth birthday event.
HICCI executive officer Kerri Goding said that more than 20,000 meals had been served to community members at Dinner at Darron’s over the years – each one of them free of charge.
“It’s just a really wonderful celebration for us,” Ms Goding said.
“The meal doesn’t get any government funding, so it relies on donations from businesses and a grant we get from the RE Ross Trust.”
She said that the program, which began to care for financially disadvantaged or socially isolated people in the area, had grown and welcomed many different people each week.
“It’s a wonderful mix of people – some people come regularly, some come once a month,” Ms Goding said.
Six teams of volunteers rotate on a roster to cook the meal each week, and supplies are donated regularly from Toscanos Fruit Shop and Sanctuary Bakehouse to support the program, along with Healesville’s Max Brown Real Estate, which sponsors one of the evenings a month.
Ms Goding said Dinner at Darron’s had a strong sense of community and that both the diners and the volunteers enjoyed their time meeting up each week.
The Darron Honey Centre is at 286 Maroondah Highway, Healesville.
For more information on the program, phone HICCI on 5965 3529.
