ALEX MAKES MEALS
When Alex Dekker’s sister Pietra admitted she was struggling to balance working 16-hour shifts on her Melbourne hospital’s COVID-19 ward as a doctor, he knew he had to help.
“I did what any family member would do and said I’d drop her off a lasagne,” says Alex, 22.
“When I was in the middle of making it, I thought I should do it for a few other people. I put it out to my friends on social media – that night I had about 400 people reach out for help!”
It all happened very quickly for Alex, who was studying nuclear chemistry at Melbourne’s Monash University at the time.
The aim was to give free homemade meals to exhausted medical workers. “I started cooking, and by that weekend we created our first 800 meals. Two weeks in, we had hit 2000 meals, and now we’ve made over 400,000 meals,” says Alex.
Now 100 volunteers-strong, Alex Makes Meals relies on donations to be able to buy and cook food for themselves and other charity partners.
“Our costs for goods have gone up considerably – it is now costing us 30 to 40 per cent more to create a meal,” says Alex.
“Our wait list is also twice as long as the list of people we are currently serving.”
Donations can be made at alexmakesmeals.com/donate