The little things that go a long way

Eggs help a Melbourne charity’s mission to bring comfort to people through quality food, from meatballs to birthday cakes.

Time, energy and empathy is all it takes to make a real difference in someone’s life.

This is the ethos that guides It’s the Little Things Community, a Melbourne charity that provides homestyle meals to vulnerable, displaced and disadvantaged people facing hardship.

The organisation was founded by Jane and Grant Stewart in 2022 to support people struggling in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. What began as meals prepared in their home kitchen has since grown into a network of dedicated volunteers, working together to bring warmth, dignity and connection to people who need it most.

At It’s the Little Things Community, compassion shows through in the details. The charity’s engagement manager, Nia Jayasekera, says that when volunteers pack snack boxes for children in hospitals, they include a handwritten note with each one. This small gesture serves to remind each child that someone cares for them.

“We foster an appreciation for quality in all our volunteers,” Nia said. “We’re passionate about the meals being so good we’d be excited to eat them with our own families.”

Before she started working in emergency relief, Nia had only ever cooked at home. Now, she’s an expert in the logistics and planning that contribute to crafting a menu and producing more than 25,000 meals a year.

It’s the Little Things Community works with 11 outreach organisations to support people facing a range of challenges, from women and children escaping domestic violence, to those experiencing homelessness.

“We’re big on comfort foods because they’re familiar, but we still like to keep plenty of variety.”

Eggs play a key role in bringing many of their staple dishes together.

“We get a lot of minced meat donated to us so one of the challenges is finding interesting ways to use it. We might add meatballs to a pasta, using eggs to bind everything together and keep a nice texture.

“We also use eggs in our cakes and other sweet treats. If we hear that it’s someone’s birthday, we go out of our way to make them a cake so they feel appreciated on that day.”

As Nia says, “The little things we do are all there to make it a bit more special.”