The team at Box Hill Baptist Church alongside their key partner, The Orchard Providore, have put together an awesome initiative to both minimise food waste and to provide support for the local community, which was even more important during the latest COVID lockdowns. 

The Saturday Community Bakery initiative’s team of volunteers (both from the church and beyond) come together every Saturday morning from 7.30-8.30am to distribute over four trestle tables full of free bread, baked goods and sometimes even some fruits and vegetables for any member of the community to take for themselves, their family and any of their neighbours in need. 

The initiative emerged from the community itself through The Orchard Providore, who finds culinary, creative, less-wasteful, sustainable, practical and/or compassionate ways to minimise ‘fresh’ food waste. Box Hill Baptist Church partnered up with the team at The Orchard Providore by providing the space, the support and the resources that they may need to respond to the needs of the local community.

The initiative is also all volunteer run with many of whom are from the community with no previous experience attending church. So, being able to provide the place for them to experience church (and being inside of one!) by serving their neighbour is yet another testament of God continually moving.

The church also puts on tea and coffee (when we’re not in COVID lockdown!) to help create conversations and build community with people who might not otherwise come together otherwise. 

“It’s exciting to see different communities coming together through the church.”

This wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible people at The Orchard Providore, the amazing volunteers, our generous donors and of course, the people who make up the incredible community at Box Hill.

What a great initiative from the team! Check out more of what they do here!