Louisa Spizzirri was worried when she heard her father Romolo Di Girolamo, 86, had eaten two-minute noodles for dinner.
Hoping to organise a more substantial meal for him, she called long-time friend Gina Sozzi, but she wasn’t expecting the care package that arrived.
“With the current challenges we are all facing it’s risky for him to get out and do shopping,” Mrs Spizzirri said.
“So Gina put a bit of a survival pack together for him – bread, pasta, antipasto; everything an old Italian man would love,” she laughed.
“It’s such a beautiful and caring thing – she went above and beyond, and she didn’t want a cent for it. He couldn’t stop grinning – from ear to ear.
“These are the times to look out for one another and my sister and I, we both live in Melbourne and we’ve just been crying because it was such a beautiful thing to do.
“To know there’s someone in town caring for him, it’s just wonderful.”
To Gina, it was just something to help out the next best thing to family.
“Her dad and my dad were friends, so I thought it was something good to do. When I heard what he had for dinner I thought, ‘oh God, surely not’,” Ms Sozzi said.
“It’s a hard time for a lot of people at the moment. It was something small I could do.
“I sent one to my sister in Melbourne too, she’s a primary school teacher and so she’s really feeling how difficult it is at the moment, so I thought she could do with one.”