By Brendan Rees
A Casey food charity that was run out of a carport but told by council to shut its doors has now been thrown a cash lifeline.
BK 2 Basics Melbourne founder Kelly Warren couldn’t believe her ears when a stranger offered to pay $120,000 for three years lease at a new warehouse.
In July, Casey Council ordered the not-for-profit pantry – which was then being run out of a residential carport – to be closed down before 26 August as it did not meet planning scheme requirements and were “responding to complaints”. Council at time said it would try to link Bk 2 Basics with another organisation.
Since moving into their new warehouse on Vesper Drive on 1 October, which is more than 10 times bigger, Ms Warren said they were helping up to 200 people a day.
And this is all thanks to Joe Calleja, a 64-year-old Dandenong businessman, who was touched by the charity’s services.
“He’s messaged me first and he turned up at the pantry and just said ‘come on jump in the car we’re going to a warehouse’,” Ms Warren said.
“Both of us went and he asked me where I wanted to go and I said ‘around Narre Warren.’
“So he came down here and this is the first warehouse that we saw. He rang up the real estate and it was all done, deal within five minutes,” she said.
“You think people that got lots of money will flaunt it … honestly he’s just like you and me, you would never ever know,” she said.
Mr Calleja was born in war-torn Malta, where his family experienced hardship. His family migrated to Melbourne 1963, when he was aged eight. His first job was a forklift operator when he was 18, and today he runs a Dandenong-based, national steel distribution company.
Mr Calleja said he wanted to “give back to the community” and loves that he can drop into the warehouse and “know exactly where the money is going.”
“I’ve done the easy part, honest to God, that’s the best way I can describe it,” he said, adding “she gets off her a—e and does all the hard work.”
BK 2 Basics has also created a GoFundMe page for people to donate towards a new delivery car as the current one is a “little sick”.
