Amy's Story

At the start...

Amy and her friend Brianna started at 100 Mile Foodie in the new school year of 2019, excited to come after school and cook their family’s dinner together with their client support worker. The afternoon began with a discussion about what they would both like to cook, writing a shopping list, rough budget then off to the supermarket. I know a cheeky vanilla milkshake was bought out, Amy’s favorite, that’s ok as an after-school snack was very important!
Amy & Brianna would head back to the cooking school after their shopping trip, unpack their shopping, prepare, and cook the dinner for them to take home for their family, proud as punch! This duo continued for several years developing skills needed for independence such as food safety, food hygiene, kitchen safety, safe knife skills, vegetable preparation and meal presentation, it was a fantastic to see them grow into capable young women ready for the next phase of their life after school.

After that...

Amy continued with 100 Mile Foodie in a group on a Thursday, 100 Mile Foodie Independent living skills with other young people. Amy and her new friends spend the day creating a shopping list, budget, going out for morning coffee, grocery shopping then back to the cooking school to cook morning tea, lunch, afternoon all from scratch.
The group also weigh and measure ingredients and pack a bag of protein, vegetables and weighed ingredients to take home and cook the family’s dinner. Amy has now come along to this program for two years and we have seen amazing progress in all her skills which is wonderful.

Later...

One day in October 2021 I decided that I wanted to offer more to Amy and other young clients like her, everyone’s goal is to be employed, to earn money to be financially independent even if it is only part-time work. I also didn’t just want to offer my clients programs that they attended for years with nothing to look forward to apart from the same thing year in year out, this is traditionally what is offered throughout Australia, but it wasn’t the only option I wanted for my clients.

Eventually...

Café 100 Mile Foodie was purchased in November 2021, gutted, and rebuilt from scratch, huge job but it looks amazing.
Emails went out to our clients offering them the opportunity to apply for a position, paid supported employment working 1:1 with a support worker with a minimum of 2 x 4 hour shifts per week. Amy handed in her resume, had an interview, and was offered a position, as was 11 other young people.
We opened 28th March 2022, Amy was there on the first day and from that day working her two shifts per week sometimes three, she is smashing it! Amy has found her niche, she excels in the Café, making coffee, using the POS machine, serving customers, doing dishes, sweeping, mopping, setting up the cake cabinets, my heart really does explode when I see her she can achieve whatever she wants despite her disability.

And now:

Amy’s goal now is to work full-time, maybe for 100 Mile Foodie or Café 100 Mile Foodie who knows, it’s Amy’s choice, the world is her oyster.