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Mandurah soup kitchen receives meat treat from AMWU

Jill BurgessMandurah Coastal Times

A HUGE pile of mouth-watering steaks and sausages were on the barbecue at Mandurah’s soup kitchen last week.

Steak and sausages are not something the regulars at the soup kitchen are used to but were provided courtesy of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), who earlier this year also donated $10,000.

There are likely to be two meat donations from the Union a year.

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The AMWU also provides food for youngsters in Broome where the crime rate dropped by about 60 per cent when they were not stealing food, a spokesman said.

Demand at the soup kitchen has risen by more than 100 per cent in the past two years and some people have often not eaten since the previous day.

Although the soup kitchen has the backing of five government departments, it is totally unfunded and desperate for donations.

Volunteer co-ordinator Liz Lipscombe wants to dispel the stereotyping by many in the community.

“Not everyone who comes here is lazy or a drug addict,’’ she said.

“They are the victims of marriage breakdowns, job losses, homelessness and a host of other circumstances.

‘There is little support for males over 25.

“Many people come for the social contact, they trust us and will open up to us and we can often link them with other services that we know about.”