Defenders Soul Kitchen delivered its first meals to the homeless at Tully Memorial Park last weekend.
The team described the experience as “amazing,” expressing gratitude for the community’s support in bringing their vision to life.
The kitchen, based in Jimboomba, is an extension of local charity Defenders for Hope and its food bank, designed to provide nutritious, home-cooked meals to those lacking access to wholesome food.
Defenders’ program manager Kathy Smith said free meals for the homeless would run every Friday.
“We make meals for the community to buy and sell them in our cafe, our Soul Kitchen, to help pay for the rent because we’re not government funded, and the rest of it goes out [to the homeless],” she said.
“They are all home-cooked meals.”
Ms Smith said there was a lot of demand in the community for free, nutritious meals.
“A lot live in vans,” she said.
“And they are not cooking roasts and good, healthy vegetables because they don’t have the space to store stuff like that.
“They are living on the basics of noodles and things that are easy and don’t take up room.”
For the community, the Defenders Soul Kitchen offers affordable meals, coffee, and a pay-it-forward system to ensure no one goes hungry.
Community support, including weekly produce donations from local farmers and food banks, sustains the initiative.
Ms Smith said the community was being incredibly generous with their donations.
Located at 82 Anders Street, Jimboomba, the kitchen is open from 7.30am to 2pm.
