Sikh Volunteers Australia put wheels in motion to help homeless in Casey with a new mobile food van

THESE Cranbourne-based volunteers are taking the idea of meals on wheels to a whole new level in their latest project to help feed the needy.

Sikh volunteers, including Sukhwinder Kaur, Chara Singh and Tejinder Singh, have launched a food van to feed the homeless. Picture: Valeriu Campan

A GROUP of Cranbourne-based volunteers has started a project to deliver free, homemade vegetarian food to the needy in Casey.

Sikh Volunteers Australia launched their free food van this month and will take it to Narre Warren, Hampton Park and Cranbourne on Saturday evenings.

Spokesman Manpreet Singh said the group wanted to help the hungry and needy while also easing strain on other food providers, such as St Vincent De Paul, which runs the Berwick Soup Van on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday nights.

He said anybody was welcome to a hot meal as part of the project, which was not religiously motivated.

“We are doing this for humanity ... this is not part of the religion,” he said.

“At the moment we are going to the same places ... we are in contact with the council (to take the van to more areas).”

Mr Singh said the food was all homemade and prepared at a Lynbrook hall, with volunteers paying for the ingredients.

According to the Australian Council of Social Service, in October last year there were 2.9 million Australians — or 13.3 per cent of the population — living below the internationally accepted poverty line.

According to the Department of Human Services there were 4048 people waiting for public housing in the Dandenong catchment, which includes Casey. This is almost 12 per cent of the total number of Victorians waiting.

The Sikh Volunteers free food van stops at the Narre Warren station carpark from 6pm, the Hampton Park Shopping Centre carpark near the phone booth from 6.45pm and the Lyall Street bus stop in Cranbourne from 7.45pm to 8pm.