WINTER can be tough at the best of times. Add the weight of recovering from bushfires, and those cold, dark months can feel even harder. For 13 Fridays during winter, volunteers quietly gathered in Alexandra to make nourishing vegetable soup at the Alexandra Pop Up Soup Kitchen for people impacted by the January fires. The project was always about more than soup. Each bowl was made with love, a small gift from the Alexandra community to let fire affected people know they were being thought of, cared about and remembered. FRESH VEGETABLES: The soup was made from healthy ingredients. It was also a gentle way to check in and ask, ‘How are you going?’, and to have a conversation and to remind people that while the road to recovery is long, they don’t have to travel it alone. The Alexandra Pop Up Soup Kitchen was a collaborative fire recovery project coordinated by the Embassy of Ideas. Over the past 13 weeks, 10 local community groups, organisations and businesses generously contributed their time, talent, food, facilities and financial support to make it happen. The organisers would like to send a heartfelt thank you to CWA Redgate Alexandra, Foundation Murrindindi, St John's Anglican Church Alexandra, Alexandra Christmas Tree Festival, Alexandra Pastoral and Agricultural Ladies Auxiliary, Oasis Church Alexandra, Alexandra Newspapers, Dobsons Potatoes and Café Alex. HUGE BATCHES: Huge pots of soup were shared among members of the fire-impacted community. Batches of vegetable soup were made, frozen and then distributed through community hubs/groups in Terip Terip, Highlands, Yarck, Fawcett, Yea and Alexandra, reaching people impacted by the fires. Each delivery carried a simple message from our community: We are thinking of you. We are sending strength and hope for the days ahead. You have not been forgotten. With the transition out of winter, the Alexandra Pop Up Soup Kitchen project has now come to an end. They still have a few batches of soup to share, but the cooking days have finished. A CHEERFUL TEAM: Some of the people involved in making the soup. Thank you to everyone who stirred a pot, chopped a vegetable, packed a container, made a delivery, donated, volunteered or simply helped make this idea possible. Sometimes a bowl of soup is more than a bowl of soup. It’s a check-in. It’s connection. It’s a reminder that someone cares. Fire recovery doesn't end when winter does. The road ahead is still long, so to everyone navigating that road: we continue to be here, thinking of you and walking alongside you as you find your way forward. PERFECT PORTIONS: The soup being poured into containers. With love and care, from Alexandra.
