Showing love with food

Foothills Community Care Inc.
Dedicated. Giving. Patient

Caring cook Alan Deans has served up over 36,000 delicious and nutritious meals to locals doing it tough in his 16 years of volunteering with non-profit Foothills Community Care.

Alan manages the volunteer kitchen team, which cooks and serves over 100 meals, including dessert, every Wednesday night to people in Ferntree Gully.

The people Alan helps are battling homelessness, addiction, domestic violence, food insecurity and loneliness.

Alan and the team also give fresh fruit and vegetables and additional re-heatable meals to their guests.

Every year, Alan sacrifices Christmas morning with his family to help prepare a festive feast for over 230 locals. Many would otherwise spend the day on their own if not for this generosity.

The highlight of Alan’s work is seeing people who would usually fall through the cracks being included in the community. He is also a kind mentor to the younger volunteers and enjoys passing on his catering skills.

Alan is humbled to be nominated as a Westfield Local Hero. “I am a small part of a great team of wonderful volunteers and supporters that is making a big difference in the community. I am motivated by my father’s advice which was ‘if you are going to make an impression on this earth, make it a good one’,” he says.

Westfield Local Heroes are nominated and voted for by their communities, with the three top finalists per Westfield centre each awarded a $10,000 grant for their affiliated organisation. Foothills Community Care will use its funds to upgrade its kitchen facilities so it can improve the choice of meals.

For further information on the Westfield Local Heroes program, click here