From feeding a few homeless people in a park in May 1996, John and Bev Lowe grew Manna Industries to become one of the largest providers of meals for the disadvantaged people in Perth.
The Rotary Club of Freshwater Bay supported this program extensively since our inception, through to when the Lowes left to form a new charity in 2018. We are now supporting their new endeavour, Moort Care.
The Manna Industry Years
Shortly after our club first formed, we donated 70 boxes of melamine dinnerware, an urn, and other kitchen utensils and linen to Manna Industries.
In 2010, with the help of the Rotary Club of Arden-Arcade in the USA, we converted a disused canteen at the Maddington Primary School into a modern kitchen which has been used by Manna Industries to prepare breakfasts for children who arrive at the school not having been fed and for teaching cooking to the children and their mothers. This was the first facility of its kind here in Western Australia.
Every year from 2009 to 2018, our Rotary Club provided scores of blankets knitted by ladies in a local retirement village and just before Christmas we collect non-perishable foodstuff and toys.
We have also donated a large number of school packs and uniforms for Manna’s Winter School Uniform program and have made financial donations from our Charitable Trust.
Supporting Moort Care
In 2019, the Lowes let us know that disadvantaged people they were working with had no way to keep cool in summer. We donated 40 fans to families in February 2019, 40 fans in December 2019, and 40 more in December 2021.
As Christmas approaches, we collect non-perishable goods and toiletries for Moort Care to distribute. Our thanks go to the following organisations for their help with being collection points in 2019:
- Canning Vale Primary School (which collected enough food to make up 70 hampers!)
- Ellen Health in Fremantle
- Australian Alzheimer’s Research Foundation
- IGA Taylor Road
Collecting food for Moort Care to make into hampers is now an annual event.
- 2022 CVPS Food Appeal
- 2021 CVPS Food Appeal was also supported by Yarralinka Primary and CVPS alumni who make up “Bottle Rescue” – an article in the press features photos of the enormous quantity of food collected
We also work with their homeless feeding service, Midland Meals. In 2023 we provided $3,000 to build a cool room facility to store their fruit and vegetables.
See also:
- Meeting 24 May 2023: Update from Bev Lowe on Moort Care’s projects
- Filming the work of Bev & John Lowe in 2021