Local Woman of the Year
Laya Slavin, co-founder of Our Big Kitchen (OBK), has been selected as ‘Vaucluse Local Woman of the Year’ by the NSW Parliament.
Gabrielle Upton and Layla Slavin
Located in Bondi, Our Big Kitchen is a kosher community kitchen in which meals are prepared for those in need. In 2017 over 70000 meals were cooked in the kitchen and distributed across Sydney.
Slavin and her husband, Rabbi Doctor Dovid Slavin, founded the kitchen in February 2005 and it has been active ever since.
The presentation of the award was held at Our Big Kitchen and was opened by Rabbi Slavin.
The award was presented by Gabrielle Upton, Liberal member for Vaucluse who had put Slavin’s name forward for the award to Premier of New South Wales.
Gabrielle Upton is also Minister for the Environment, Minister for Local Government and Minister for Heritage. She spoke about reasons for honouring Slavin as an outstanding leader of the community and her ongoing work, emphasising Slavin’s special warmth and genuine affection.
She said: “Laya deserves recognition for her commitment to bringing positive change in the community through Our Big Kitchen which provides meals to needy families. Her tireless work in this communal kitchen, which she helped establish in 2005, made her an outstanding candidate for my Local Woman of the Year.”
I recently visited OBK and witnessed first-hand the warmth that Laya inspires among the volunteers. The community kitchen is a wonderful place that encourages people from diverse backgrounds including underprivileged and School groups and enables them to cook and freely give to others. They learn skills that will help them in every aspect of their lives. Laya is an amazing supporter of the Gift of Life Australia program inspiring people to become potential blood stem cell donors to save the lives of blood cancer patients.
I thank Laya for her strong commitment to helping those in need in our local community”.
Layla Slavin respond: “Here it’s the women who are bringing everyone back to the heart of the home and the community, making a difference, one meal, one cookie, at a time.”
Our Big Kitchen functions as a charitable organisation which encourages people from diverse backgrounds to come together and cook for a cause.
The NSW Women of the Year Awards program recognises remarkable women across the state who have achieved inspiring things in their careers, in business or in their communities.
