By Dongyun Kwon
Filled with pizza, wine, desserts, coffee and music, Healesville Community Garden was full of Italian culture on Thursday 7 November.
The theme of Healesville Library’s Community Lunch this month was the Italian Cultural Immersion.
Healesville Library team leader Sabina Wills said the monthly Community Lunch aims to go with a different theme each time to include diverse people.
“With the community meals, we have cultural immersions, for instance, we’ve done Indian immersion in the past,” she said.
“We have information sessions like once we did elder abuse or just a social event like a children’s event that we did.”
About 30 people attended the event this time and enjoyed the Italian food and beverage as well as Italian music and dance.
Sanacori Duo was invited to perform Italian music under the shade of the trees in the blossoming Healesville Community Garden.
“We did it at the Community Garden because we have a plot there where we grow vegetables, fruits and herbs that we use for the community meals and library programs,” Ms Wills said.
The attendees got a chance to taste exquisite Italian pizzas and wine from Innocent Bystander and learn traditional Southern Italian dance moves Tarantella.
Healesville Library has run the Community Lunch since 2022 thanks to the funding from the Healesville RSL and Healesville Lions Club.
“Including yesterday’s event, we have run 23 community meals and fed 850 people so far,” Ms Wills said.
“It was a bit different yesterday, but normally if we’re doing the meal [at the library], any extra meals would go to HICCI.
“That 850 includes that we fed people or were given to HICCI.”
The last lunch of the year will be the Christmas Community Lunch on Thursday 19 December at 12.30pm at Healesville Library.
Bookings are open via visiting or calling the branch on 9800 6497 or the library website, events.yourlibrary.com.au/event?id=60528
