Buy winter warming soups from pop-up soup cafes and do your bit to support a dementia-friendly garden.

People are encouraged to head to the pop-up soup cafes between noon and 2pm on July 2 at the Port Macquarie CWA Rooms (Town Green), July 3 at the Laurieton School of Arts Hall and July 4 at the Senior Citizens Centre in Wauchope.

St Agnes’ Parish Food Services will produce the soups and five hospitality students and one hospitality trainee from Newman Senior Technical College will be involved in the final preparation and dishing up.

Newman Senior Technical College hospitality students Hannah Waters and Mahala Hopwood are part of the college team.

Hannah said she looked forward to gaining the experience and talking to a range of people, while Mahala hopes helping out at the pop-up cafe will help hone her skills.

People living with dementia will serve the soup to the customers.

The pop-up soup cafes kick off a 12-month program of dementia-friendly activities to help build greater awareness, acceptance and understanding of dementia in the community.

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council director Jeffery Sharp encouraged everyone to buy a tasty soup for $5 and support people living with dementia in our community.

“Our region has around 1857 people currently living with dementia, which is the third highest prevalence in NSW,” Mr Sharp said.

“The program aims to support people with dementia so they can be involved in activities and opportunities for social engagement that provide meaning and purpose in their lives.

“All proceeds raised from the soup cafes will go to the memory garden in Port Macquarie, a great therapeutic place for local people living with dementia to relax in nature, trigger old memories and reduce anxiety.”

The plan is for the money raised from the soup cafes to go towards garden furniture at the dementia-friendly garden.

The 12-month program, titled Four Seasons in One Dementia Day, will highlight the challenges people living with dementia face within our community, and be represented by four events across four seasons.

Other program initiatives will include a dementia-focused author visit, a hands-on-history workshop for people living with dementia and a video art activation at the 2019 ArtWalk event.

The council received a $15,000 grant from Dementia Australia and will work alongside the St Agnes’ Parish, Omnicare and the Seniors Rights Service to deliver the dementia-friendly communities program across the region.

“A big thanks to the local not-for-profit groups who will work with council on the program and the students from Newman Senior Technical College for lending a helping hand for this great cause,” Mr Sharp said.

For more information on how you can become a dementia friend in our community and to view the full list of program initiatives visit pmhc.nsw.gov.au/dementia-friendly