Soup Kitchen

I have a nice, cruisy life going for me in Margaret River. I get up around 7 am, go to the gym, get to work by 9:30 am, have a mellow day at work...usually, leave no later than 5 pm and have the whole evening to do what I want...like I said cruisy. And my favorite part about a cruisy life is I have time to volunteer...finally! With working, saving and traveling it's been difficult but I now have time to volunteer at Soup Kitchen :)

Every person, place and thing has a nickname in Australia and Soup Kitchen is no different. It is endearingly called Soupie!

Soupie just celebrated its 17th birthday -- 17 years of meals twice a week, 52 weeks a year. Relationships have been formed through Soupie and countless people fed with the help of volunteers and generous donations. 

Meet the crew

Doing work and making tasty food

Meet Dave Seegar, the creator of Soupie. He claims he is just a cook and by no means a chef.  He's a school bus driver during the day and enjoys playing his guitar at gigs on the weekends. He's one of the coolest people I've met in Margaret River...a very rad dude :)

Dave is still running the kitchen at the Margaret River Community Centre after setting it up with the aim of helping the homeless and hungry. We now feed 70 to more than 150 people at each sitting. A large variety of people with different backgrounds attend every Monday and Wednesday, from children in after school programs to entire families; from winemakers to backpackers, and everyone is welcome. Soupie is even mentioned in Lonely Planet's Guide of Margaret River. Job well done Dave!

Each night a fresh salad with a housemade dressing and spicy chili salsa is served as well as nine different 'stews' in rotation ranging from satay to Thai curry to dahl. In order to appeal to the masses, nothing is too spicy and every dish is vegan.

A $5 donation is requested but not mandatory in order to help buy the food each night. If the kitchen makes a profit it is used to donate to charities like Free the Bears Foundation, or for locals in need. 

The food is extremely tasty and healthy. I eat at Soupie every night I volunteer. Dave has done such a great job building an amazing service for the community and I thoroughly enjoy being a part of it. I look forward to it every Monday and Wednesday. I've met some really amazing people and of course some 'interesting characters' with wonderful stories about life, love, adventure and everything in between. I highly recommend checking it out if you make your way to Margaret River aka Margs ;)