By Eden Hynninen
The Dench family is giving back to the community by starting their ‘Adding Value’ campaign and offering free meat packages for vulnerable people in the community.
Simon and Greta Dench – along with their eight children – have been involved in Dench butchers, a family business, for close to a century.
They operate Dench Meat and Chicken at Wellington Square in Wallan, and want to assist those people in the community who need it most.
After listening to an inspiring podcast, Mr Dench decided to take the power away from money in business and focus on adding value to people’s lives.
“We want to give back to the community and create an environment where employees enjoy coming to work,” he said.
With a family of 10, the couple understand the pressures families face financially and in business.
“We’ve been through our own hard times and understand that it’s not an easy climate with kids – it’s very expensive,” Mrs Dench said.
“Even in our trade butchers have taken a bit of a hit in the past five years, we’re lucky that we’ve been able to keep our business going.
“In tough times people have really reached out to us so it will be nice to give it back.”
The family, who live in Doreen, are asking the community to nominate a family in need on a weekly basis so they can supply them with fresh, nutritious meat.
“People can contact us on our Facebook page. It’s a fairly new idea so we thought we could start there,” Mrs Dench said.
“We do a ‘Welcome to our table’ video every week on Facebook with all of our kids focusing on products every week, so we’ve really built up a community there.
“Simon has always been very generous, so we’re looking forward to giving back.”
For more information on the campaign visit Facebook Dench Meat & Chicken in Wallan or call 5783 3644.
