Foothills Community Care
Providing meals, hospitality and a place to belong in the Dandenong Ranges and foothills of outer eastern Melbourne.
Everyone is welcome at our table.
Over the past 12 months, we have provided support in our local community by:
Serving Over
45,000 Fresh Meals
Delivering Over
15,000 Food Parcels
Rescuing Over
30 Tonnes of Food
Working With Over
250 Volunteers
Foothills Christmas and Summer Closure Dates
Our last day is Monday 16th December, our Programs return at the start of February 2025
If you need support over this period, please check out the Knox Emergency Relief Network flyer found HERE for other local agencies opperating times
If you're looking for a community gathering along with a free sausage sizzle - head to the Ferntree Gully Uniting Church
We want to say a big Thank You to all our Volunteers who make it possible to do everything Foothills does each year. We hope they have a wonderful Christmas and Summer Break
Would you like to find out more about what a Reverse Advent Calendar is, or better still, participate in one with Foothills this year? Head to our Reverse Advent Calendar page HERE
Community Meal Nights
Ferntree Gully Community Meal
Wednesday Nights
Ferntree Gully Girl Guides Hall.
156 Underwood Road, Ferntree Gully (next to the train station).
Doors open 4pm for a hot cuppa, chat and food parcels. Meals available for dine-in and takeaway from around 5pm till 6pm
Everyone is welcome at our table!
Orange Sky free laundry washing and drying service available 3.30pm -5.30pm
Since 2007 we have been providing Ferntree Gully locals with a meal and a place to hang out. We usually have around 70 people coming along and sharing a meal, a laugh, and a chat together, in a safe and positive atmosphere. Our doors open at 4.00pm, come in for a cuppa, a snack and chat. Our home-cooked main meals are served around 5.15pm followed by a delicious dessert.
Upwey Community Meal
Monday Nights
Upwey Baptist Commuity Church.
Cnr Darling Ave & Burwood Hwy, Upwey (opposite train station).
Doors open 4pm for a hot cuppa, chat and food parcels. Meals available for dine-in and takeaway from around 5pm till 6pm
Everyone is welcome at our table!
Since 2015, Upwey Community Meal Nights have been held in partnership with Upwey Baptist Community Church. The community meal is held in the back hall of the church. We usually have around 70 people coming along and sharing a meal, a laugh, and a chat together, in a safe and positive atmosphere. Our doors open at 4.00pm, come in for a cuppa, a snack and chat. Our home-cooked main meals are served around 5.15pm followed by a delicious dessert.
Our community meals rely on the generosity of volunteers.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer or want more information on how you can get involved, please click on the button below.
Community Casseroles
We are able to offer short term free home delivered frozen meals and care packages to people in the Dandenong Ranges and Knox areas.
What is Community Casseroles?
Community Casseroles have been cooking as a community for the community since 2015. We run weekly community cook-ups with rescued food, saving tonnes of food from landfill, and support our community with free home-cooked, home-delivered meals for anyone who needs them. Weekly we are delivering around 700 meals to our local community through our team of volunteer drivers.
At some point everyone finds themselves needing a community around them and for many, when crisis hits, they have few supports and community connections to hold them. This isolation can make hard times so much harder. So many people struggle alone and it can be very hard to reach out and make those community connections when you're already experiencing overwhelm and stress.
Community Casseroles home delivers meals to those in our community having a hard time. There is no qualification to access Community Casseroles, if you need a meal we will be there, with a week's worth of dinners and a shared understanding that everyone has hard times and we all deserve kindness and dignity.
Through our regular Community Cook Ups we offer another way for everyone, especially those isolated or lonely in our community, to find a support network and build friendships. Community Casseroles gives people a way to contribute meaningfully to their community even when living busy lives. Community meals means no one has to struggle alone and strong communities can grow.
Know someone who needs loving from the oven?
Do you know someone who is in the Dandenong Ranges or foothills area, doesn’t have a lot of community support and could benefit from a home-cooked meal? We’d love to support families with new babies and no community to cook for them during those precious first days. Also those experiencing health or family crises who could use a little extra kindness from their community. We offer one-off meals as well as short term support.
If you know someone who could be uplifted by a little home-cooked love, you can nominate them for some kindness in a meal. If you could do with a hand yourself, please let us know.
Love to cook? Love to connect? Want to get involved?
We are currently meeting weekly for our Community Cook-ups, held out of Upwey Baptist Church. In our kitchen, we regularly cook and then freeze hundreds of delicious meals to share with those in our community who could do with a little help in the form of a pre-cooked meal.
Our meals are as much to feed the body as to feed the spirit. The act of cooking and sharing meals is encouraging and nourishing for both the receiver of the meal and the cook. We also welcome people to volunteer as delivery drivers to our community.
If you would like to find out more about joining us for cooking or driving, please complete our volunteer form.
Christmas Eve Lunch
Join us for our 23nd annual Foothills Christmas Lunch with all the trimmings.
Don’t spend Christmas alone this year!
Don’t spend Christmas alone this year!
Over the past 22 years, we have been hosting our Foothills Christmas Lunch for locals to come together and celebrate, especially for those who would normally spend Christmas alone.
Please note that for 2024, we’re unable to host our Foothills Christmas Eve lunches at our usual Ferntree Gully location, as it is unavailable. Instead, for this year only, the lunches will take place at our Upwey base at Upwey Baptist Church. Due to the smaller venue, these events will be more limited in size, and we regret that we won’t be able to accommodate as many guests or volunteers as usual.
What does our Christmas Lunch look like?
We will be able to offer 2 sessions for people to choose from, and both will have limited capacity, both on Christmas Eve - Tuesday 24th December:
Session 1: 10.15-12.45pm
Session 2: 1.30-4pm
Each session will feature our traditional Christmas day fare, including a main meal with all the usual Christmas goodies. There will be plenty of entertainment on the day, including face painting, kids activities, a Christmas photo booth, a nativity play and of course a visit from our very own Christmas angel with gifts for all.
Preference will be given to local residents of Knox and the Dandenong Ranges as we usually receive many more inquiries than we are able to take for the day
Please note, we are unable to offer transport for any guests.
To register your interest in volunteering please fill out our Volunteer Expression of Interest form
We also receive many more applications to volunteer than vacancies we have and unfortunately cannot guarantee that an application will result in a volunteer opportunity, however, we will do our best to accommodate as many as we can.
If you would like to donate to the meal or any of our Christmas activities, supporting our local community please go to our donations page here. Or contact us at contact@foothillscare.org.au to discuss any other questions.
Partner with us this Christmas by donating to our Christmas Day Lunch
Help to provide a Christmas meal and community for 100's of people who would normally be spending Christmas alone.
Mums' Connection Space
Offering support to mum's and children who need a space to connect
Our Community Casseroles - Mums’ Connection Space is a space for mums to come together: to find connection, to build community, and to share some of the daily load while being part of something bigger than each of us alone.
We meet fortnightly on Fridays during the school term at Upwey Baptist Church, 9:30am to 1:30pm to cook together. There is no cost to attend and kids are welcome to our interactive children's program.
We cook together, share morning tea, drink amazing coffee and sit down to lunch together. This is a space of support and connection where mums can build a community together while making meals to support the broader local community as well as taking home some dinners for the family (or the neighbours, spreading around the mum-love).
This is a space that makes room for mums who might otherwise be isolated. If you are a mum who has been limited in building your social network, maybe due to experiencing chronic illness, being a carer, experiencing family or domestic violence etc- we want to be a safe landing space for you. We know it can be especially difficult building those mum connections if you're already juggling other challenges.
All mums welcome, you may have little ones or your kids may be grown, but we all have something to share with each other on this mum-journey.
For further information email us at mumscooking@foothillscare.org.au
Or request to join our facebook page
Boarding House Outreach
Providing food and support to those living in boarding houses around Ferntree Gully.
Since 2018, Foothills Community Care along with other Ferntree Gully friends, have been providing weekly outreach and support to the many boarding houses around Ferntree Gully. Visits include providing fresh fruit and vegetables as well as practical support and a listening ear to local residents.
If you are interested in knowing more about our boarding house outreach, send us an email by clicking on the link below.
The Ferntree Gully Community Safety Outreach Project
The Ferntree Gully Community Safety Outreach Project is a ‘Knox Empowering Communities’ project, funded by the Victorian Government’s Empowering Communities Initiative as part of the Building Safer Communities Program.
This 16-month pilot project, which commenced in April 2023, is based around the Ferntree Gully village community and addresses issues of safety and social connection, especially for the most vulnerable within our community. The project centres around four key stakeholder groups, including local community groups, traders, law enforcement and vulnerable people in the area.
We have employed two outreach workers for this project especially to support locals in need of an extra hand-up. This happens through the building of relationships or respect and trust and where possible supporting them to address challenges they are facing.
This project builds on the work that Foothills has been doing, supporting locals around Ferntree Gully for over 20 years now. It will also work with our local community to co-design responses, activities, programs and events to build positive community outcomes for all.