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The St Vincent de Paul Society and employees at EnergyAustralia’s Yallourn Power Station have today marked the one year anniversary of a partnership that has delivered valuable support to the soup van service in Moe.
As part of the sponsorship, EnergyAustralia last year provided $150,000 to Vinnies. The money allowed the not-for-profit organisation to buy a new soup van for the Moe service, as well as upgrade the facilities of existing vans in Melbourne.
To mark the anniversary, volunteers from the soup van attended the Yallourn site to provide employees with lunch and a chance to view the van. The lunch was funded by EnergyAustralia.
Member for Eastern Victoria, Danny O’Brien, and former Commonwealth Minister for Energy and Resources, Martin Ferguson also attended.
The soup van operates on Monday and Wednesday nights, with 22 local volunteers providing 7280 meals each year.
Yallourn’s Executive Manager, Mark Pearson, said EnergyAustralia was committed to providing support to the local community.
“At EnergyAustralia, we want to support the communities we are based in and our partnership with the Vinnies soup van program is an important part of that,” Mr Pearson said.
“As an energy business we understand the importance of essential services and therefore look to support organisations that similarly provide services the community can’t do without.
“The soup van program in Moe is a highly-successful program that makes a real difference in the lives of many people.
“Having another soup van on the road has allowed the dedicated volunteers to provide even better support to those people in need.”
The soup van program provides an important service in Moe and the surrounding area, assisting families or individuals facing financial difficulties or who are homeless.
The St Vincent de Paul Society’s Soup Van President Br Doug Walsh said: “It’s been fantastic to have EnergyAustralia on board to support our soup van service.
“The Moe van has been running for almost 17 years and is a really important part of what we do in Gippsland to support people in need,” Br Walsh said.
“EnergyAustralia’s support to get a new van for Moe has been a fantastic boost to the service so we’re really grateful they’ve been able to help out.”