“One night about 12 years ago, I was moved when I saw two people looking for food in a garbage bin near my bakery shop,” the co-owner of Lalor’s One way Lebanese Bakery told SBS Arabic24.
Chris Mansour, the co-owner of the bakery, decided from that day to offer a free box of food outside the bakery at the end of the bakery’s business day.
The bakery owners did not only invite the homeless and the needy to collect the free food at the end of the day, but also to walk into the shop to collect the food whenever they needed something to eat.
Mr. Chris Mansour said that when the initiative started about 12 years ago, there were only two homeless people who reached out for the free food box left outside the bakery.
“Nowadays up to ten people queue up outside the store at the end of the day to have something from the free food box,” the bakery co-owner added.
According to 2016 census, Lalor population reached 22,594 with 143 people were experiencing homelessness.
The number of the homeless people, however, is increasing in the northern Melbournian suburb of Lalor, according to Mr. Mansour.
The bakery offers “a 40$ worth of free food box at the end of each business day,” he said.
The box is left outside the store with Lebanese pies, pizzas, and other kinds of baked goods.
“We put the baking date on the box because we care for the safety of the food eaters,” the co-owner of One Way Lebanese bakery told SBS Arabic24.
The gross free food offered by the bakery so far is worth of $ 100,000 over the last twelve years, but Mr. Chris Mansour said that they “feel happy to see people able to have their food.”
The charity work has also opened the eyes of Mr. Mansour on the stories of some homeless people.
“I was really touched by some homeless people’s stories unknown to many locals because they are not in direct contact with the homeless,” he said.
Mr. Mansour told a story of a homeless man who would never take free food when simply asked “Do you want some?”
“The homeless, I remember his name was Mark, would only accept free food when I ask him Would you like some?” Mr. Chris Mansour said in admiration, describing the homeless man’s conduct as “very polite.”
