Pilbara soup kitchen delivers nearly 10k meals a year and creates safe place to sober up
ABCIt has just gone 4:00pm at South Hedland's only sobering up centre in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia. Key points: The soup kitchen has been operating since April last year Run by Bloodwood Tree Association, it uses leftover food donated from mining camps and hotels Nine hundred meals have been served in the last month alone, including home deliveries Slowly people begin to trickle into the backyard, where the region's only soup kitchen is pumping out meals. Kelly Howlett, who is behind the soup kitchen, started the venture when she realised people in town were going hungry at night. 'It all came together' The soup kitchen was started in April last year after Kelly Howlett, chief executive of the Aboriginal not-for-profit the Bloodwood Tree Association, started noticing people were going hungry in the evenings. "One camp then decided they would do 50, another camp decided they would do 50, another camp decided they would contribute fruit, and the local bakery donated bread," Ms Howlett said.