At six in the morning, Macquarie Street is empty. The shops are shut, the office towers dark, the footpaths bare. But inside St Stephen’s Uniting Church, the lights are already on.
A group of volunteers have been here since before dawn. Some are in the kitchen — ovens on, bacon cooking and porridge warming. The others are upstairs, hauling trolleys out of the storeroom, filling urns, setting up the table on the steps outside. By the time the first commuters appear on the street, Early Bird Café is already running.
It operates like this every morning, Monday to Saturday, without fail. No paid staff. Just volunteers, a well-stocked pantry, and a dedicated group of people determined to make a difference to someone’s day.
The kitchen runs on a tight rhythm. Bacon first, then porridge — soaked overnight then warmed in the slow cooker, keeping warm until it goes upstairs. Scrambled eggs are made as close to opening as possible, twenty serves at a time, because overcooked eggs are not what anyone is here to serve. The benches are lined with greaseproof paper, two slices of bread each, sauce, bacon and eggs assembled and wrapped in paper bags as fast as they can be filled. A tally goes in the diary as they go upstairs on trays.
Outside, the queue has already formed.
They come for different reasons and from different circumstances — rough sleepers, people in temporary housing, people whose week has gone badly enough that breakfast is not something they can take for granted today. Over 200 meals are served on a typical morning. They get tea, coffee (generously donated by Nestle), milo, porridge, yogurt, fresh fruit, juice, cereals (compliments of Kellogg’s), muesli bars, pastries, a bacon and egg roll, plus frozen meals to last through the day. In winter there is also clothing available, as well as books, toiletries, whatever has been donated. No referral required. No forms. A volunteer hands something warm across a table and the morning begins.
By eight o’clock it is over. The urns are unplugged, the trolleys wiped down and restocked for tomorrow, the slow cooker cleaned and returned to the cupboard. Downstairs, the saucepans are washed, the surfaces sprayed, the floor swept. The bread for tomorrow is taken from freezer to thaw overnight. The diary is updated with the day’s count and notes for the next team. Bins are emptied (and put out awaiting Doyle Bros who come during the night to collect our garbage free of charge), and everything is locked up.
Then the volunteers leave for their own jobs, and the city gets on with its day.
Last week, those two hours produced over 1,600 meals. Early Bird Café is on track to serve more than 100,000 this year. Each meal costs $2.87 to produce, and every cent comes from donations. As winter sets in, demand is rising — more people in the queue, greater need for porridge, blankets, beanies and socks to see people through the cold nights before they make it to the steps on Macquarie Street in the morning.
To support Early Bird Café, visit earlybirdcafe.org.au/donate-today
