Agroup of Penola women went above and beyond to support families in times of need, cooking up a feast at Ronald McDonald House in Adelaide for the Meals from the Heart program.
The women called themselves With Love from Penola, which paid homage to the Meals from the Heart concept while representing the Penola community.
Group member Anne Johnson said everything went to plan, with fantastic feedback.
“Best meals ever was the feedback,” Dr Johnson said.
“They really appreciated it, so many smiling faces and people were coming up and saying thank you.”
The women cooked 42 meals using donated local produce, including roast lamb and roast chicken rolls, a mountain of vegetables, a pasta bake and minestrone soup.
They served peach and apple crumble for dessert which used fruit home-grown by Dr Johnson and was put together by Carol Marcus from Vintage Café in Penola.
“We had that much food, it was absolutely wonderful,” Dr Johnson said.
“I think it shows that people care and think about helping people who are having really hard times, they have a beautiful meal cooked for them and they just get to sit down and enjoy it.”
Group member Diana Clayfield made aprons for the team and Dr Johnson said getting everything prepared was a team effort.
“Everyone worked so hard and we worked so well together as a team,” she said.
Dr Johnson said the Ronald McDonald House was an important service.
“They have approximately 50 families a year stay from our region, many for several months and others for multiple occasions,” she said.
“We just appreciate what they do and the support they give to country people, who are often in very vulnerable and stressful situations with sick children or complications with pregnancies.”
Dr Johnson thanked the Penola community for donating several hundred dollars and non-perishable food.
“They were very generous and very supportive of us going up to Adelaide to do this, it meant a lot to us and the families at Ronald McDonald House, Penola is such a generous and caring community,” she said.
Dr Johnson said the group planned to make their service an annual event.
