Lentil As Anything – the History – with Shanka Fernando Source:Lentilasanything “Lentil as anything is an invitation to restore our faith in the essential goodness of humanity and the wholesome nature of community.”— Wayne Visser Our History Lentil As Anything was created from a dream Shanaka Fernando had for his local community in St. Kilda around twenty years ago. In the year 2000, Shanaka set up the first Lentil As Anything with the support of the community in St. Kilda. A wild idea at the time and one of Australia’s first modern social enterprises, it was a restaurant that provided food to anyone who dropped in. In order to keep the project viable, Lentil As Anything adopted a contribution model where patrons were encouraged to donate what they could either through a gift of labour, skills or simply to “pay as you feel”, thus creating an effective tool for promoting ...
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“LENTIL AS ANYTHING” – Introduction by Des Kelly I have to say that I did hear of this “cafe/restaurant” many years ago, where people could go for a meal and pay for it with a “donation” they could afford. I could not believe it, but never did have the time to check it out, but, like all kind gestures carried out by compassionate people, it seems that this Cafe carried on with it’s good work, providing good, yet simple meals for hundreds of the less affluent people of Melbourne, and now, it’s generous owner Shanaka Fernando has written and published a book, aptly titled “Everybody needs a place at the table”, a book, that I feel, should take it’s place on as many bookshelves as possible, helping Shanaka to carry on his superb service to people who need it, in this day and age. Now that Covid 19 restrictions have been ...
Nov 8, 2020
Posted by eLanka admin In
Articles, DESMOND KELLY
Tagged Dr Wayne Visser, Lentil as Anything, Shanaka Fernando
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Crowdfunding fight to save pay-as-you-can Lentil As Anything restaurants during COVID-19 recession-Cheryl Hall Lentil as Anything founder Shanaka Fernando says the pandemic has hit his not-for-profit restaurants hard.(ABC News: Gemma Hall) Source:ABC “Pay what you feel” has been the catchcry of the iconic Lentil as Anything restaurants for 20 years. But now, the charity with three restaurants in Melbourne and one in Sydney is asking the community to give back. Under Melbourne’s coronavirus lockdown, the not-for-profit restaurants have lost their generous diners but are still handing out thousands of meals to those who have lost their jobs and their homes. “It has been a real loss to us not having the generous donors who come and eat and donate and subsidise the people who can’t afford to pay”, founder Shanaka Fernando said. Since March, the restaurants have provided 130,000 free meals for vulnerable Australians and the international students who have ...
Oct 15, 2020
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Articles
Tagged coronavirus lockdown, JobKeeper payments, Shanaka Fernando
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