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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-08-28 Daily Xml
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Nonna's Cucina

The Hon. J.S. LEE (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (00:47): I move:

That this council—

1. Congratulates Nonna's Cucina for reaching a special milestone of their 25th anniversary in 2024;

2. Recognises that Nonna's Cucina is a unique community-based meal service provider where all meals are prepared fresh daily by qualified chefs and a trained team, and these nutritional meals are delivered safely by culturally and linguistically friendly staff and volunteers to the doors and homes of the aged, people with disabilities and people who may have special needs, predominantly within the Italian community of South Australia;

3. Acknowledges the important work of founding members, current and past presidents, board members and volunteers of Nonna's Cucina for their hard work, dedication and contributions in delivering 25 years of outstanding community service in South Australia;

4. Commends Nonna's Cucina for working collaboratively with government agencies, corporate organisations and other multicultural community organisations to deliver meal services and support those in need to remain living in their own homes; and

5. Reflects on the many achievements of Nonna's Cucina over the past 25 years and recognises the impact of Nonna's Cucina and its contributions to enrich multicultural South Australia.

It is a great honour to move this motion to congratulate Nonna's Cucina for its outstanding contributions to serve senior members of the South Australian Italian community, and on reaching the special milestone of its 25th anniversary in 2024. Nonna's Cucina has a very special motto: 'Nonna's Cucina: made with love, shared with joy'. Those words really are at the heart of all that they do for the community.

Honourable members may be familiar with other meal service providers such as Meals on Wheels, and while Nonna's Cucina's service is similar, it has a particular focus on sharing the joy of Italian cuisine and hospitality. In fact, CEO Marco Staltari spent 18 years at Meals on Wheels. It is interesting to note that earlier this evening honourable members passed a motion recognising the 70th anniversary of Meals on Wheels.

Nonna's Cucina is a unique community-based service which provides delicious home-style cooked meals to the aged, people with disabilities, and those who are recovering from ill-health and medical procedures. Nonna's Cucina understand the needs of their clients, and ensure that meals are not boring; instead, the meals are packed with flavour, nutritionally balanced and, more importantly, cooked fresh every day by a team of talented chefs who meet the highest quality and safety standards.

The organisation is predominantly volunteer-based, with over 100 dedicated volunteers engaged in a variety of roles in the kitchen, and on the road where they deliver a three-course meal directly to the doorsteps of their clients. Volunteers consist of people who understand Italian culture and language, and they become the familiar and caring faces that clients look forward to seeing every day.

This system of delivering services allows volunteers to check on the welfare of vulnerable seniors on a daily basis. The social interactions between volunteers and the elderly cannot be underestimated. I would say that these volunteers exercise the R U OK? Day campaign every day by having a chat to see if the person is doing okay, and sometimes those conversations can detect the first sign of distress or pick up issues that may need the attention of a family member or a medical professional.

As the longest serving and continuous serving member of parliament in the portfolio of multicultural affairs over the last 14 years, I have been a big supporter of the important work of Nonna's Cucina and have attended many events over the years. I know that the Hon. Vincent Tarzia, the Leader of the Opposition, is also a great supporter.

It was a great privilege to attend the 25th anniversary event held on Saturday 23 March 2024, along with many distinguished guests, founding members, committee members, advisers, management, patrons and volunteers. All the speeches were moving and provided a long list recognising contributors and many successful projects and programs delivered by Nonna's Cucina in the last 25 years. We were treated to a superb four-course dinner at the 25th anniversary gala, prepared by the executive chef at Nonna's Cucina, Stefan Dimasi, with live music and entertainment that made it a truly memorable occasion.

I wish to express my heartfelt congratulations to founding members, which included the initial executive team dating back to 1999, who initiated the concept of the Italian Meal Service under Multicultural Aged Care, with funding provided by the Home and Community Care Program. This important program aims to deliver culturally appropriate meals to support older people to remain independent in their own homes for as long as they are able.

I want to acknowledge the amazing leaders, and thank Franca Antonello, Silvio Iadarola and Gosia Skalban, who were instrumental in the development of the organisation's first policies which guided its operations. The Italian Meal Service was groundbreaking, and the founding members had lobbied for years to develop food services for South Australia's ageing multicultural population.

From an aspirational beginning, the organisation today has grown into a well-respected household name in the Italian community under the leadership of president Rebecca Staltari, together with dedicated board members, CEO Marco Staltari and the entire Nonna's Cucina team. It would be fair to say that every community organisation needs a champion to strengthen its brand. Nonna's Cucina is blessed to have a dynamic and well-known celebrity chef, namely Rosa Matto, as their patron.

I give special acknowledgement to the Governor's Multicultural Award winner, Rosa, who is doing a marvellous job as its patron. As honourable members would know, Rosa has a long career as a chef, caterer and culinary instructor spanning over three decades. Her greatest passion is to grow fresh fruit and vegetables and support local businesses. Her strong commitment and dedication to the community aligns with the mission of Nonna's Cucina to supply delicious home-cooked meals for the aged and people with disability.

In 2004, the Italian Meal Service became an independent body and took the trading name PISA, an abbreviation for Pasta Italiani e Servizi per Anziani, which translates into 'Italian meals and services for seniors'. PISA moved into premises at Firle, where it had a fully functioning kitchen that enabled it to begin cooking its own authentic Italian meals and expand to serving clients in the north-eastern suburbs. The organisation kept growing from strength to strength, opening a second kitchen/cafe at Torrensville in 2011, and operating out of the two locations for a period of five years. In 2017-18, PISA amalgamated its services with a brand new kitchen at Royal Park, and in 2019 successfully rebranded it as Nonna's Cucina.

I fondly remember attending the reception held at Government House to celebrate PISA's 20th anniversary, and the launch of its current name as Nonna's Cucina. All the speakers highlighted how fitting the new name was. Nonna means grandma in Italian, and cucina means kitchen. The new name epitomises the authentic home-style meals, family atmosphere and Italian spirit of hospitality at the heart of the organisation. Nonna's Cucina (Grandma's Kitchen) evokes an image of a warm and welcoming space where food brings everyone together and meals and family are celebrated, exactly what the passionate team of chefs and volunteers provides at Nonna's Cucina.

In 2020, Nonna's Cucina introduced a new alternative called the Grandma Menu to cater for different taste preferences to reach even more people in the community who enjoy a variety of dishes. Today, it is exciting that Nonna's Cucina is again looking to expand and in the process of relocating to a new facility at Holden Hill, roughly five times larger than the existing premises in Royal Park. This significant transition will allow the organisation to continue to grow and improve the daily meal service and prepare meals at a greater capacity.

Honourable members may be interested to know that Nonna's Cucina also provides catering services for private functions and events. These services further support the social enterprise business, with all profits being reinvested to support the community meal services, so I am most happy to provide a bit of free advertising of their wonderful services today in parliament.

It is a great honour today to move this motion to highlight the outstanding work by Nonna's Cucina and also commend them for their collaborative approach in working with government agencies, corporate organisations and other multicultural community organisations to deliver meal services and support those in need to remain living in their own homes.

As someone from a multicultural background, I know firsthand how incredibly important this concept of living in your own home is to the health and wellbeing of ageing members of our community. As we know, humans are creatures of habit. Not only are the meals provided by Nonna's Cucina deliciously nutritional but these favourite dishes offer great comfort, familiarity and connections to their heritage. My grandmother used to say to me, 'If you love me, you must eat more because my food is good for your stomach and good for your soul.'

I wish to once again congratulate and thank the entire team at Nonna's Cucina for the wonderful work they do to support those in need and their ongoing commitment and contributions to South Australia. A very happy 25th anniversary to Nonna's Cucina. I wish the team every success with their expansion and transition to their new home in Holden Hill. I wholeheartedly commend the motion.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.

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