31/03/2026
If anyone is able to spare a few dollars to help out Mama Lana's Community Foundation please do so (account details on their post)
They are a fantastic service who provide hot meals and more for our local community 🥰
Hi everyone, it’s Mama Lana here.
I need to vent this morning… so bear with me.
I was just on the radio with Hamish Macdonald on ABC, and it’s stirred something in me that I just can’t shake.
Because honestly… I’m frustrated.
I’m frustrated that we run a completely free service — and yet somehow we’re expected to carry the same financial weight as businesses that actually make a profit.
Everything we do is free.
Free hot meals.
Free groceries.
Free food hampers.
Free clothing.
Free toiletries.
Free sleeping bags.
Free blankets.
Everything that leaves our doors goes out with no cost attached… just kindness. Completely free.
But here’s the part that people don’t always see…
There is nothing free about running our free service.
We still have to pay for ingredients that go into those meals.
We still have to pay for the electricity to cook them.
We still have to pay for the containers to package them.
We still have to pay for the rubbish that comes from producing hundreds of meals a night.
And we still have to pay rent just to have a roof over our heads so we can do what we do.
And here’s the part that really gets me…
We are a not-for-profit charity.
We do not make money.
Yet businesses — who do make profit — are now passing on rising costs to us, like fuel increases, because they “can’t absorb it anymore.”
And I sit here thinking…
How is a charity supposed to absorb costs… when we don’t make anything to absorb them with?
It just doesn’t make sense.
Every donation we receive, every grant we are blessed with — that money should be going straight back into feeding our community.
Not just trying to keep the lights on.
We’ve already noticed in the last month that both monetary and non-perishable donations have slowed down considerably.
Even the small, more affordable and tax-deductible donations of as little as $2 were a massive help and we see next to none of those these days.
Let me put it into perspective for you, because I think people need to see this:
• Rent – $50,000
• Electricity – $20,000
• Van running costs x 2 – $20,000
• Meal containers – $19,000
• Rubbish removal – $9,000
• Foodbank supplies – $22,000
• Coles – $26,000
• Bidfood – $23,000
• Insurance – $15,000
That’s a conservative
annual cost of $201,000 per year…
And that’s just what I can think of off the top of my head… there’s plenty more.
Yes, we do have some incredible sponsors — and I will never stop being grateful for them as we don’t get any ongoing government financial assistance.
But we have to work hard for every grant.
And the truth is… we need more.
Because right now, we are cooking between 300 to 400 meals every single night…
6 nights a week…
52 weeks a year.
We don’t stop.
Covering all of these costs takes a monstrous amount of effort - and while we have been continually putting in that effort for years on end, we are in need of help.
While I greatly understand that not everybody is in a financial position to help out, any donation over $2 is tax-deductible and at this point is a necessity.
What started 14 years ago as cooking meals for firefighters during a crisis… has grown into something I don’t think any of us could have imagined.
We’re no longer just feeding the homeless.
We’re feeding families.
We’re feeding mums and dads.
We’re feeding people who go to work every single day… and still can’t afford to put food on the table.
The working poor.
And that… that breaks me.
Because this should not be happening.
And I’ll be honest with you…
I worry.
I worry about what happens if one day we simply can’t keep up with these costs anymore.
Because if we stop… where do all these people go?
Times are tough right now.
And everything I’m seeing tells me they’re only going to get tougher.
So, yes while this is a bit of a rant…
It is also a reality check.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for listening to me.
And if you know a business — any business — that could support us in any way, please reach out or share this post.
Because what we do here… it matters.
More than ever.
Love always,
Mama Lana 💛
⸻
Bank: IMB Penrith
BSB: 641-800
Acc: 200698795
Name: Mama Lana's Community Foundation
ABC Sydney
