The head of a top hospitality institute has secured funding to provide training and jobs for the victims of bushfire affected towns.
Peter Laliotis, together with students and chefs from Hales Institute, have been cooking for hundreds of homeless people in Flowerdale since they set up a temporary dining facility in February.
“Now that we have received direct funding from the Department of Human Services, we have been able to train and create jobs for eight locals who we hope will carry on our work once we leave,” he says.
Head executive chef, David Potter, has over the past six weeks trained a chef apprentice, four kitchen hands, a delivery driver and two additional part-time staff, all who lost their homes and jobs as a result of the bush fires.
The staff will not only be paid for their shifts but will, on completing their training, receive certificates in hospitality. The institute plans to leave the staff to run the facility within the next three months, pending the construction of a proper communal kitchen.
“A similar program in Kinglake and Marysville is also likely to be set up to model the training program that we have developed in Flowerdale,” says Laliotis.
The plan may sound like a simple idea in theory but, in reality,Laliotis is concerned with the ability of the locals to manage the food distribution and logistic tasks once they are gone.
“We have controlled the purchasing and buying of every sausage and accounted for three to four hundred people seven days a week but, sooner or later, they have to start buying their own food.
“Whereas it might be easier in Flowerdale because, like a village in Greece, everyone knows their next door neighbours, it will be harder to monitor in larger communities like Kinglake and Marysville”.
To Hales University’s credit, they have a high calibre training team who have worked in several crisis situations, including Somalia, and in addition, along with the philanthropic support of executive chef, David Potter, who has now moved to Flowerdale to continue his assistance.
“We have been fortunate enough to have spent all this time volunteering, with the support of our managing director, Spiros Liolios. Helping these people has been a fantastic experience,” adds Laliotis.
The Hales University team held a special Easter event over the weekend in Flowerdale, donating a selection of baked goods including koulourakia from Laliotis’s other business, Hellas Cakes.