By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
TASTY Trucks has been delivering its leftover perishable food to St Vincent de Paul Soup Vans for 20 years.
Tasty Trucks Dandenong manager Sian Fitzpatrick said she gives about 16 per cent of the leftover food in her truck to St Vinnies soup vans every day.
“All our fresh and perishable food like sandwiches, pies, wraps, rolls and sausage rolls with single day shelf life gets donated – the hot and cold food goes directly from our ovens and fridges to theirs,” she said.
Ms Fitzpatrick has spent an evening with the soup truck team from St Vinnies and said knowing first hand where the leftover food goes and the relationship with Tasty Trucks and St Vinnies makes her very proud.
“I know that what I can’t sell during the day goes to someone that’s going to appreciate it at the end of the day,” she said.
The St Vincent de Paul soup van in Endeavour Hills has been serving much needed fresh food to people in need since October 2013.
President of the Endeavour Hills soup van Denver de Rozairo said the van is a much needed service.
“We serve about 100 people per week,” he said.
The Endeavour Hills soup van serves approximately 6760 local each year.
Ms Fitzpatrick said: “We can’t just throw it in the bins.”
“The need for free food services compared to 20 years ago when we started is more than tenfold now – there’s definitely a need for what we consider wastage because it provides nourishment for a lot of people every night,” she said.
President of Victoria’s St Vincent de Paul Soup Vans Brother Doug Walsh said Endeavour Hills locals had expressed their concerns for the local area.
“People out there felt there was a need for a soup van, we met with other agencies that did welfare work in the area and we felt there was a need as well and gave them our backing,” he said.
The Endeavour Hills soup van operates two nights a week.
