We delivered our 50th pack of kitchen essentials in January; this week the total is likely to reach 55 – all in just over two years. This is a wonderful achievement for a project that began with a target of providing packs for just 11 new households per year.

Thank you to all who have contributed – Glebe Community Op Shop, Harvey Norman Broadway, PUG Men’s Shed and City of Sydney, and the many members of the Glebe Society and the broader community who have donated kitchenware and cash. Thank you also to those who have contributed their time to cleaning and packing, and those who have helped publicise the project – the Glebe Society through this Bulletin, but also the many members who have encouraged their friends and neighbours to donate kitchenware for recycling through the project. We depend heavily on those donations.

While this summer was a busy time for outgoing packs, there was a lull in kitchenware donations – a repeat of last year’s pattern. We began with good stocks this year but are now running low. Please check your cupboards for un-needed items and pass the word to your friends and neighbours.

A detail from Singles Kitchen Pack no. 26 – tumblers are in short supply, as are food preparation knives, frypans and medium saucepans (photo: Diane Hutchinson)

The items we are now especially short of are:

  • food prep knives (we can sharpen blunt ones),
  • frypans (we can refurbish stainless steel and cast iron pans),
  • medium saucepans, and
  • tumblers.

But we would also welcome any of the other kitchenware on our standard list.

Please call Diane on 0407 207 177 or email on kitchenpack@glebesociety.org.au to arrange a mutually convenient pick-up time. Alternatively, you can deliver your items to:

  • Kitchen Pack sessions at the St Helen’s kitchen (accessed by a ramp at the rear of the building), 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, 9.30am to 12.30pm, or
  • ‘Sewing for Good’ at the Aboriginal Cultural Space, Glebe Town Hall, on 2nd and 4th Fridays, 10am to 1pm.

Also, we would welcome more helpers at St Helen’s kitchen on 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, 9.30-12.30. Just stay an hour or two if you like – perhaps time it so you can join us for morning tea or coffee at about 11am.

Diane Hutchinson
Project coordinator