Rupanyup's Tully Gordon has helped people through many difficult times through their lives and has now opened The Kindness Kitchen - a place for conversations to start and where everyone is welcome.
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The cafe/gallery in Rupanyup sells solely plant-based food and follows the mantra of being a safe and positive place.
"I'm a strong believer about opportunity and people are sometimes not given the right opportunity in life," she said.
"Combining everything I've done in my life from being a behaviour analyst and understanding human behaviour - to know we've created this safe space where anyone could come and everyone was welcome then I know I'm trying my best for the community.
"The food we offer is nurturing and good for the body. It's not a cult, it's just food."
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Ms Gordon has lived in Rupanyup for about six years.
In 2020, her work-life had changed because of COVID-19.
This, thrown in with living a life with MS, Ms Gordon set out to pursue her passion.
"I had to find something that I would enjoy doing because stress doesn't help my MS," she said.
"I've always loved plant-based or vegan food.
"I can't believe we live in the pulse capital and have this amazing opportunity to showcase that.
"I come from a farming family. I want to break down some of the myths and stereotypes around living a vegan lifestyle."
Ms Gordon said she became to live a vegan lifestyle after she was following a vegetarian diet.
"I had a break from my work at the time and went off and did yoga teaching training," she said.
"I got to live that full vegan lifestyle.
"I just loved it. Loved the food. From there I just modified my lifestyle and have been for about eight years.
"I'm not here to convert or change anyone's beliefs. We are just here to show people this is what you can create with the food that you grow."
The opening of The Kindness Kitchen almost hit a road-block about eight weeks ago when Ms Gordon had a "really bad exacerbation".
"I went through a stressful time," she said.
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"I have quite a lot of legions on my brain. I'm in remitting relapsing.
"I ended up in hospital and I lost my movement, couldn't stand properly, could hold anything in my hand and lost some speech.
"It was a pretty horrible time. I ended up into a pilot study with new medication and so far, so good."
The Kindness Kitchen has seen a heavy stream of traffic through the doors since its opening.
From what Ms Gordon said she didn't know of any other cafes in between Melbourne and Adelaide that are solely plant-based.
"Our priority isn't just food - but it's embracing diversity and celebrating kindness," she said.
"We're also stocking a lot of products that are social projects. For example, for every bag of coffee we use a tree is planted.
"I've tried to select products to stock around those who have shared values like us.
"Also around sustainability and environmental concerns."
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Ms Gordon said the cafe was still evolving.
"We're going to look into composting and how we can reduce our footprint even further," she said.
"There are lots of goals in the gallery as well."
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Cassandra Langley
Rural and regional story-telling is where my passion lies. Email: cassandra.langley@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Rural and regional story-telling is where my passion lies. Email: cassandra.langley@austcommunitymedia.com.au
