By Luke Voogt
A Jan Juc single dad delivering meals to those in need plans to expand his efforts after a fundraiser to fix his van exceeded his wildest expectations.
Mitch Knapton has been using funds from his disability support pension to cook meals during COVID-19 and deliver them alongside his team of volunteer ‘isolation fairies’.
“I really want to set this up as a mission that can continue long after COVID-19 is over,” he said.
But recently his transit van broke down, putting a spanner in the works of his Saturday night deliveries.
He put out a call on social media for mechanical advice and within hours three people contacted him suggesting he start a fundraiser.
“I was like, ‘oh nah, it’s not my thing’. I didn’t want to reach out for help like that.”
But eventually Mitch agreed to fellow local Ferne Millen creating a GoFundMe page on his behalf.
“And it snowballed from there,” he said.
The page has since raised more than $9000, smashing the roughly $3000 Mitch needed to fix the broken clutch.
“I’m really embarrassed and overwhelmed about the whole thing but so stoked that someone in the community reached out and did this for me.”
Mitch, who has post-traumatic stress disorder from a tough childhood, refined his cooking with an apprentice chef housemate after moving out of home at age 14.
“I’ve been able to cook for as long as I can remember and I’m just a mad foodie,” he said.
After moving to Jan Juc in 2006, the “time poor” dad began making big batches of food to freeze and heat up during the week.
“Pre-COVID we were having dinner parties and people just loved my cooking, so it seemed natural to cook for others.
“One weekend I made up a massive batch of spag bol and I put up something on a community page to see if anyone wanted it, and it went gangbusters!”
Now 20 ‘isolation fairies’ help him cook for those in need, including a young girl who bakes cakes and an Indonesian expat who makes meals like beef rendang.
“It’s slowly becoming this really organic community mission,” he said.
After the success of the fundraiser a local businessman, who wished to remain anonymous, agreed to mentor Mitch in expanding his efforts, he said.
Mitch hopes to hire a commercial kitchen to bolster his cooking prowess.
“Hopefully we’ll be handing out 35 to 50 meals a day for the elderly, disabled and vulnerable. If need be we can branch out to Geelong – I’d love to do that.”
Donations: www.gofundme.com/f/micks-iso-meals-and-van-rescue
