Always A Mater Girl

Ashvina’s favourite subject at Mater Christi was Health & Human Development, and her teacher, Ms Lawson, greatly impacted the person she has become.

“Ms Lawson was a fierce feminist, and she talked about the importance of supporting other communities, not just those you are from.”

Ashvina completed a Bachelor of Health Sciences at Deakin University, majoring in Family and Societal Health and Disability and Inclusion.

“My degree taught me about the complexities of our society and how things like socio-economic status, location, and race can impact generations of families. It highlighted the gaps in social support for those in the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities.”

During the COVID pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, Ashvina wondered what she could do to help members of the CALD community who were struggling. Thus, COOK4CALD was born.

After a lot of research and planning, and with support from invested family and friends who volunteered their time, COOK4CALD prepared and delivered multicultural meals for ten weeks throughout the summer of 2020/2021. It began with 15 meals in the first week and averaged 85 plus towards the end, entirely funded by community donations.

COOK4CALD went on to become an incorporated association, to now an ACNC registered charity with an Executive Committee, all under the age of 30. COOK4CALD now provides 200 plus meals every week, every Summer to the South-Eastern suburbs of Melbourne and currently has 75 young volunteers preparing and delivering the meals to families in need.

Ashvina’s passion for supporting marginalised members of the community also extends to accessibility and inclusion for people with disabilities. So, alongside COOK4CALD, she has worked full-time as a NDIS Support Coordinator, helping people with disabilities make the most of their NDIS packages.

She is currently the Community Lead at WeWork, a flexible office space solution for people and companies looking to customise their use of office space, in line with their business needs.

“The power of kindness takes you everywhere—it’s the most important value anyone can have. My education opened my eyes to the injustices women and marginalised people in the community experience, and as an empathetic person, I felt I had to do something.”

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