Kitchen to provide 120,000 meals

MORE than 120,000 meals will be prepared each year for underprivileged Papua New Guinean youth in a new kitchen currently under construction at the Lihir Gold Limited (LGL) New Life Skills Training Centre in Port Moresby.
The new kitchen will also offer invaluable training opportunities in food preparation for the 128 young men from all over PNG who reside at the City Mission-run centre.
The facility, located on the outskirts of Port Moresby in Bootless Bay, provides accommodation and meals and vocational and life skills training to young men who are in need of a helping hand.
Funding for the kitchen has been donated by LGL, PNG’s largest gold mining company.
The young residents of the centre are busy constructing the new building as part of their training.
It is hoped the kitchen would be completed in December, in time for a special Christmas lunch.
City Mission founder in PNG, Larry George, said the new, purpose-built kitchen would not have been possible without the generosity of LGL.
“We are enormously grateful to LGL for their ongoing support.
“Feeding more than 100 young men every single day of the year is no small task, and our existing kitchen area isn’t large enough or properly equipped to meet the demand.
“We cook more than 12 tonnes of rice each year, at a cost of more than K30,000,” he said.
LGL chief executive Arthur Hood said LGL’s funding would provide a fully operational and functional kitchen specifically designed to cater for the high volume of food prepared on a daily basis.
The new kitchen will be equipped with a new stove and oven, and larger bench space, sinks, shelving, utensils, fire and safety equipment.
The two-story building will also host an additional dormitory, increasing the number of beds.
Mr George said over the next year, the LGL training centre would introduce new programmes in food preparation and serving using the new kitchen facilities.
“With the growing food preparation industry in PNG, we believe the new kitchen will provide a good training and help launch many young men into full-time employment,” he said.