Stockland and The Good Foundation celebrate success of Jamie's Ministry of Food Australia partnership

Stockland and The Good Foundation are celebrating three successful years as partners delivering the Jamie's Ministry of Food cooking program across Australia.

Since December 2014, Stockland has helped The Good Foundation teach cooking skills to thousands of Australians from as far north as Cairns in Queensland to as far west as Baldivis in West Australia.

To date, over 6,700 people have completed the Jamie’s Ministry of Food 7 week course, learning basic cooking skills and Jamie’s hints and tips, to be able to cook healthy nutritious meals from scratch using fresh food.

Most importantly, many participants have directly changed their lifestyle and eating habits following the course participation, with an additional 24,000 cups of fruit and vegetables being consumed every week and people stating they feel were more confident in cooking meals from scratch and are spending less on take away foods.

Davina Rooney, General Manager Sustainability at Stockland, said “We are thrilled to see the tangible success of this positive program not only at the Jamie’s Ministry of Food kitchen at Stockland Wetherill Park, but nationally with the mobile kitchen, our recent outreach program at Stockland Willowdale and the successful school holiday program held across our Retirement Villages.”

“Stockland always strives to create a better way to live and we see this initiative with The Good Foundation as a perfect example of this objective for the local community. Our partnership with Jamie’s Ministry of Food perfectly complements our strategy around healthy family lifestyle choices and providing a better way to live for our customers, residents and the community.”

Amy Smith, CEO, The Good Foundation and Jamie’s Ministry of Food Australia, said: “Jamie’s Ministry of Food Australia is successful because of the generosity of partners such as Stockland who help us change Australia’s food habits. Jamie’s Ministry of Food would not be possible without the generosity of these corporate partners assisting us to have a direct impact on the wellbeing of so many Australians.

Coming to the conclusion of its three year tenure, the Jamie’s Ministry of Food kitchen at Stockland Wetherill Park will close on Thursday 18 January 2018.

Before moving into the next phase of program delivery, Jamie’s Ministry of Food will run an accelerated course in January as a special celebration of the community based cooking program’s time at the Shopping Centre.

A community celebration event will also be held at Stockland Wetherill Park on Thursday 8 January from 11am to 3pm with Jamie’s Ministry of Food cooking demonstrations and fun activities for the whole family to enjoy.

Amy Smith continues, “For people who have yet to take the course, the program offers the opportunity to experience the program in a condensed time frame. We urge everyone who hasn’t yet experienced a Jamie’s cooking class to get involved.”

“We look forward to our continued work with Stockland as we approach the next phase of the program”

Stockland will remain a committed partner of Jamie’s Ministry of Food Australia with new pop up activations to be announced in 2018

Davina Rooney, continues: “We are focused on providing an experience that truly engages with our customers and residents and inspires the community. We look forward to continuing our work with the Good Foundation and Jamie’s Ministry of Food Australia to deliver more opportunities for people to learn about healthy, nutritious food.”

The Jamie’s Ministry of Food cooking course is based on Jamie Oliver’s beliefs about cooking and the associated impact on healthy living, the basic home cooking course delivers hands-on cooking classes led by a team of dedicated Food Trainers and local volunteers and covers information on ingredients, shopping, budgeting, meal planning and food preparation for basic cooking.

Fun Facts

• More than 6,500 people have participated in a Jamie’s Ministry of Food Australia course through the Wetherill Park kitchen, outreach program or support of the mobile kitchen.
• Jamie’s Ministry of Food has visited 10 Stockland asset locations over the past three years
• More than 3,500 people have taken a cooking course at the Jamie’s Ministry of Food kitchen at Stockland Wetherill Park
• Some 70% of participants that have come to the program live within 10km of the centre
• An additional 24,000 cups of fruit and vegetables are being consumed by participants of the course every week
• 76 different community organisations have connected with the centre (with 14 doing multiple courses)