Canberra’s ‘Soup Kitchen Lady’, Stasia Dabrowski (1926-2020), a volunteer who ran a mobile soup kitchen feeding thousands from a corner of Garema Place, will be honoured with a $300,000 sculpture as part of the ACT government’s recognition of significant Canberra women through the public art collection.
Every Friday night in Garema Place from 1982 until 2018, she served homemade soup, bread and drinks to people in need. She also gave out a lot of hugs. Stasia peeled and cooked 180 kilograms of vegetables every Thursday to get ready for the Friday night line-up. She babysat and cleaned houses to earn enough to buy the ingredients.
By 2000, she was providing several hundred loaves of bread and at least 100 litres of homemade vegetable soup to more than 300 people each Friday night. By 2005, the numbers grew to 500. Stasia’s personal generosity was eventually supported by a number of Canberra-based organisations.
A tender process will open soon to engage an artist to create the artwork honouring Stasia. The sculpture will be completed and installed in Garema Place in early 2026.
A Polish immigrant, she won numerous awards and accolades for her charity work, including 1996 Canberra Citizen of the Year, 1999 ACT Senior Australian of the Year, 2017 ACT Local Hero of the Year and carrying the Olympic torch.
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