Stasia Dabrowski OAM - In Memoriam

Volunteer, feeding the homeless for over 40 years

2017 ACT Local Hero

Best known as the ‘soup kitchen lady’, Stasia Dabrowski served Canberra's neediest for nearly four decades, well past her 90-year milestone. Born in 1926 in Poland, Stasia’s family lost everything during World War II. Arriving in Canberra in 1964 with her husband and young family, Stasia remembered her own experiences when her teenage son came home talking about a homeless family needing food, they cooked pizzas for them and that began the helping of others. Stasia was up at 5am six days each week, driving her van around Canberra to collect donated food from companies, then distribute it. Stasia ran a mobile soup kitchen in Civic – something she did relentlessly, rain, hail or shine since 1979. She peeled and cooked 180 kilograms of vegetables on Thursday night's, feeding up to 500 people on a busy Friday night. A Canberra icon, Stasia gave not only food, but love, kindness and compassion to all.