Alex Dekker

His older sister Pietra was a doctor working long shifts in hospital wards, and Dekker wanted to make sure she was getting a full meal while juggling an exhausting work schedule. While this was a lovely thought, he could see that the idea was not a long-term solution.

“While I was making that lasagna for her, I realised I don't want to feed her 10 lasagnas in a row… and I also don't want to have to make a single serving,” he said.

He turned to social media to offer the food up to others who needed it. Within eight hours, he had 400 responses from people in need of a meal. For a 19-year-old on his own, it seemed insurmountable.

“It was an impossible task…but for every person asking for food, there was someone offering, saying, ‘Hey, look, I've got a large pot at home,’ or ‘Oh, I also want to give back, could I, you know, make some food for you?’”

I made a choice that day, that for as long as I can, I'm going to connect these people. One week later, we shipped out our first 800 meals after a big cook day.

“That was the hardest week of my life.”

Sticking around

Alex Makes Meals took off, and he soon found himself on the front of The Age newspaper, with donations and crowdfunding contributions over $100,000.

“Don’t give a 19-year-old that much money – it’s too much!” he says.

He’s underselling himself.

“Through a lot of hard work over the next six months, we built a company that has stuck around for the last four years and will stick around for the next four.”

“Today, we're serving about 3500 people a week, and that's anyone from individuals living on the street, to individuals who are fleeing domestic violence, to individuals in drug and rehab programs. We serve everyone, we don't really ask questions, and we're doing that from about 40 sites around Melbourne.”

Understanding the not-for-profit world

While Alex Makes Meals is a charity, it takes money to keep the stoves on and the pantry stocked.

“Two years in, it became clear that I needed to pick up some extra skills to continue running the business effectively,” he says.

Dekker is now studying a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Accounting and Finance to equip himself with the knowledge to build an effective business model.

“In the non-profit space, most of the money comes from grants, [from] large bodies that assess grant applications. They assess the financial breakdown that comes with them, and they try and figure out what's the best return on social investment.”

“[As a charity] you need to be able to give them a budget that looks good, a budget that makes sense, and a budget you can stand behind.”

Making sustainable change

Dekker’s continued development as a business leader has not stifled his drive to benefit society.

“Everything I want to do is [to] maximize how much I can help,” he says.

“How much can I add to the community in the time I have in my career and my life?”

“I'm very fortunate to be in a position with food security, where it's an unequivocal good. We are feeding people meals that they didn't have previously.”

In 2023, Dekker was awarded a Wattle Fellowship, part of the University’s ongoing commitment to shaping leaders in global sustainability.

The concept of sustainability is the big question as he looks towards the future.

“We’re trying to figure out how we can create the largest change for the longest amount of time we can.”

“How do we make our meals go the furthest?... How do we make them the best they can be, but also get them into the right hands?”