Feed the People

Who knows why the night feels so soft this evening. Maybe it is because it’s Anzac Day tomorrow. Perhaps it’s just the cooler weather slowing the pace down as people rug up a little. Before we know it we will be lighting our winter fires and this early autumn feeling will have raced away from cool to cold.

By then, the free hot meals and friendly conversation around the winter fires for our Wednesday Night Lights weekly event will feel that much more essential. A principle behind the night, a feeling really, is providing some kind of warmth and social cohesion that strengthens or even restores resilience in those who come along.

Wednesday Night Lights runs from 6pm to 8pm. It sets up outside our low-cost grocery store, the Addi Road Food Pantry Marrickville in the heart of the community centre. We keep the food pantry here open till 7pm on Wednesday now, extended hours that give people a chance to do a shop on a budget – and pick up free bread and free fruit and vegetables if they spend more than $5 inside.

Outside, the wraparound services are pretty busy for Wednesday Night Lights itself. Our partners line up in their mobile service vans to do a ton of good work… Street Side Medics providing health check-ups and medical assistance; Orange Sky Australiawashing and drying clothes for people in their van-cum-laundry; The Feel Good Project cutting hair. And, at a small table, Marrickville Legal Centre offering advice and answering questions.

 

 

 

All of these services are provided free. No questions asked. And they carry on while people sit at long tables enjoying the free and freshly made meals (and desserts) we provide from cooking all day.

This has been happening now for about a year. And we are glad to say the partnerships and wraparound services are expanding, making Wednesday Night Lights all the stronger and valuable in people’s lives.

It’s getting bigger and better in every way. ‘Taking off’, as the saying goes. Not all the services are here every week – but all of us are working on that possibility as well as considering who else might join us.

While all the above is occurring, a happening card game of UNO is often underway at one of the long dining tables. The Camperdown gang are usually involved in this gathering. We provide a bus service so people in social housing over that way can get across to Marrickville and our Addi Road’s Wednesday Night Lights to enjoy a hot meal and get whatever other help they might need that’s on offer here.

Over time, a half of that ‘help’ has really added up to just being able to eat and socialise and not be on your own. Reminders of community and human rituals; a few practical things and a bit of good cheer, laughter and conversation into the bargain.

When people talk about social justice themes like ‘resilience’, it’s this kind of collective spirit that can be as vital as all the other factors that make Wednesday Night Lights both useful and special.

 

 

 

Locals walk in too, of course. We have many regulars. So there’s a strong village spirit on busy nights when we get up to a 100 people here. Friendships are made; information gets exchanged. It’s not just for the homeless and people out-on-a-limb completely either. As stated, we don’t ask anyone to prove they are poor or struggling.

Shoppers come independently to the Addi Road Food Pantry because they like to support its environmentally-friendly ethos of retailing rescued – as well as bought and donated – stock that we supply at budget prices. The money helps us to keep going with our two food pantry operations in Marrickville and Camperdown – and do things like Wednesday Night Lights too.

A whole lot of people mingle in the end. Get to eat well and enjoy a chat. Meet with a doctor or a lawyer, have their clothes washed, get a good hair cut that’s salon quality. And there’s even that friendly game of UNO.

Come join us one Wednesday if you’re feeling hungry or need a bit of help – or just want to hang out and have a little company. We’d love to see you.

 

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You can donate to Addi Road’s food relief programs via the link here.

 

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