As a growing company, we at Hudson Homes are always very passionate about giving back to the community and doing what we can for those in need.

Parramatta Mission has been operating for over 40 years within the Western Sydney Region and pride themselves on being able to give back to community and help those less fortunate. This is one of the main reason Hudson Homes wanted to contribute what we could. One of the first initiatives that the Parramatta Mission started was The Meals Plus Community Outreach Program, with the support of the Uniting Church.

The Outreach program was first developed to provide food to those less fortunate in the Western Sydney Region and has expanded to also include emergency food assistance, laundry, shower facilities, financial counselling, legal advice by visiting solicitors, housing advocacy and Centrelink outreach service. We did some research and based on the statistics from Western Sydney Homeless Connect it suggests that only six per cent of people experiencing homelessness are living on the streets of Parramatta – most are sleeping on couches, in cars, or in overcrowded public housing. Unfortunately, there are very little community outreach programs or short stay public accommodation for residents of Western Sydney, Parramatta really has become the only place to go

At Hudson Homes, we ensure that we give back the community. On the 7^th of July, some of our staff members volunteered their time to The Meals Plus Program. Volunteers took time to prepare food, cooking, washing up, setting tables, clearing tables, serving meals, setting out produce for emergency food parcels, cleaning up, stacking chairs and folding tables. One hundred and thirty-eight people come to the outreach program looking for assistance and food, which highlights the dire need for these programs to exist and for companies to assist when they can. We wanted to make sure that all the food was fresh and nutritious. We provided fresh Garden Salads, Baked Veggies, Potato Salad, Sausages, Beef Patties, Bread Rolls, Ice-cream for dessert, Soft Drinks, Tea and Coffee.

As Hudson Homes are based in Parramatta we are always looking for outreach programs to give back too and we are always wanting to help people who need assistance. We are in a very fortunate position and have amazing staff members who have the same values and wanting to help when they can. We are always looking for ways to give back. We look forward to working with The Meals Outreach Program again in the future.