By Jed Lanyon
Healesville restaurant My Little Kitchen have continued to contribute their support of the local community by offering free toasties and hot coffee for those impacted by the storms in the Yarra Valley.
It was a kind gesture for a restaurant that has endured the recent lockdown that has crippled many local businesses.
Business owner and chef Ben Arnold shared his experience from the night.
“I think everyone in town preempted the loss of power. It’s pretty normal for us to lose power out here. Surprisingly, it didn’t seem that bad when it was coming through Healesville. The rain was insane on Wednesday afternoon, but the wind wasn’t anything like we’re seeing up Kalorama way.
“By 3.30pm the power was gone. As usual we expected it’d be back on the next day. It didn’t come back on. The hardest part about it was that there was zero communication. We had zero knowledge of the extent of these storms and how widespread they were.
“We were all worried about our little valley and village but no one really knew what was happening up on the mountain.”
Mr Arnold said after two days with no power, his business was forced to throw out all perishable and refrigerated stock.
“We thought we were really lucky that we could open our business on Tuesday (15 June), we had power at home and were safe. There was almost this overwhelming feeling of guilt that we were doing it well but that there were hundreds, if not thousands, of people in our community who had no power or water.”
So we just thought we could give back a little bit of love. The community has supported us heavily over the last two weeks and we thought this is something really small that could make a huge difference to some people.
Mr Arnold shared that the business gave out in excess of 200 coffees and 100 toasted sandwiches, while also delivering some to a local aged care home so some elderly residents could enjoy what could have been their first hot meal in days.
