A bountiful OzHarvest

Carevan Blacktown is overjoyed to report that we have become one of the many charities supported by the amazing organisation that is OzHarvest.

OzHarvest’s mission to “Nourish our Country by stopping good food from going to waste and delivering it to charities that help feed people in need” see’s this inspirational group gathering, cooking and distributing meals, pantry items, fresh food and veg to those most in need of this care and to charities, such as Carevan Blacktown.

Our part in this wonderful new collaboration is to do what we do best, and distribute these black and gold hampers of goodness and nutrition to the Carevan community who visit us each week for a meal, a cuppa and some extra kindness to support and nurture our most vulnerable community members.

We are enormously grateful to have been added to the OzHarvest family of recipients and cannot thank this inspirational, hardworking (and happy) team enough for their work in setting up this collaboration with Carevan Blacktown.

We look forward to working together with Ozharvest into the future and making things a little bit brighter still every week for those who visit Carevan Blacktown.

Visit the OzHarvest website to find out more about this ‘golden’ organisation and the wonderful work they do across the country and now supporting the Carevan and the community we serve.

Thank you so very much

https://www.ozharvest.org

https://www.ozharvest.org/who-we-are/

Hitting the Airwaves

Bunnings, Volunteers and changing the world …

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”  – Margaret Mead

Over the last couple of weeks, Carevan Blacktown has had the wonderful opportunity to hold 2 Bunnings BBQs. This sizzling support is a much-loved Bunnings tradition and vital for many charitable organisations, including our little charity. It’s great to be able to do them again and we are HUGELY appreciative of the opportunity given us by Rouse Hill Bunnings, to raise some much need funds in this fun and interactive way.

Carevan called upon our sparkling, dancing, dedicated, hard-working and truly generous volunteers and supporters, at short notice, and were able to put together these two events with plenty of willing hands and generous donations of food enabling us to run two successful days … including today, Valentine’s day when the word LOVE and all variations sentiment, was all about… even in the Bunnings car park… and was at the heart of the amazing work our Carevan Family achieves

We had singing … some dancing … lots of sausages and LOVEly onions …and a whole lot of goodwill and care, put into action… more than just a red hearted card … our people came out to BE the CARE in Carevan.

Without our volunteers, we could not conduct meal services and our mission would be just a nice idea… our volunteers are AWESOME and on weeks like the past two, that’s never more obvious.

Huge Valentine’s LOVE to our BBQ volunteers Kym, KimBAlee, Tracey, Andrew, Taylor, Joel, Karenza, Annie and Stewart, Bruce, Jade, Daniel, Karen and Paul and Liam.. And to all our amazing team of volunteers who support Carevan week in and week out

Huge red virtual Roses to Naomi, Shahereen, Norwest Sunrise Rotary and Lions club for the donations of food… we cooked it up and served it with the extra dash of kindness that your donations bring!

Extra special shout out to our ‘protein/ bakery manager’ Tracey for work behind the scenes, for Kym who left today’s shindig to go home and make meals for Tuesday evening, to Taylor for the Technical support and for KimBAlee for the signs (and her dad) for the blackboard of LOVE … all the extra Carevan condiments that make it all so delicious!

Also, in our normal non-BBQ-ing world of Tuesday evening this week… a big beautiful bouquet to the Lalor Park Community Hub Markets, for their generous donation to Carevan and to Glaiza and Shahereen for their amazing kindness and generous donations… and to Glenda, Marlene and Daniel (and Oscar) for the delivery of clothing … we are truly, truly grateful ..

Finally, a big HUG (socially distanced of course) to Tina, Georgina and Tianna who gave up their evening to help with Tuesday’s service, managing clothing distribution like old hands. We cannot thank you all enough!

We are blessed by support in all forms and fashions and as Margaret Mead said ..we have No doubt this group of committed citizens can change the world.. or at least our little bit of it

Happy Valentine’s day AMAZING people

New Volunteer Training Day 18th February 2021

Follow the link to Carevan Blacktown’s Facebook page and join us for a training session on February 18th at 7pm

https://fb.me/e/fS4qK4qPv

Australia Day Awards 2021

Awesome Australia Day Tuesday 26th January 2021

Carevan began a terrifically HOT Australia Day Tuesday, at the Blacktown City Council’s Australia Day Awards. We were the very proud nominees in the category of “Community Event of the Year” and we couldn’t be more grateful for the accolade and kind attention … We are also very thankful to the lovely person or persons who nominated us for this honour… we don’t know who you are but we are humbled by your nomination.. THANKS

We were surrounded by inspirational people and organisations, their families and supporters, people who are the essence of community. These active members of the Blacktown Local area demonstrate the Australian spirit of care for our fellow countrymen and women, most particularly our most vulnerable persons, every day and it was lovely to be counted among them.

Lots of wonderful initiatives and programs were recognised from across all aspects of the community; health and social support for disadvantaged residents, volunteers caring for our wildlife and environment, young community leaders reaching out to care for their struggling peers and many other worthwhile and inspirational works besides.

It was a great honour to have been selected as finalists and for a small number of us to be able to attend the day, representing the Carevan Blacktown team for the special occasion

Congratulations to the worthy winners of our category, the Riverstone Neighbourhood Centre and to the other recipients and winners of the day’s awards, most especially to the Citizen of the Year, Ron Kelly – a long-time volunteer with the amazing organisation Foodbank, on which Carevan relies so heavily for food and supplies for our own Tuesday evening services.

Congrats too to the other nominees in all categories and those individuals and groups who may not have won or been present on the day, but who’s toil and efforts, makes things a little brighter for others every day of the year

Read about the other recipients, their work and quiet achievements on behalf of others, as recognised on Australia Day https://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/…/Blacktown-City…

Thanks to the Council for its enormous support of these and so many other community endeavours, including our own… such encouragement is invaluable in orchestrating and achieving community-based activities and goals and we are very thankful for it.

Following the award ceremony, the Carevan team threw on their fluoro green T-shirts and got to work on our Tuesday evening service – back to Carevan business as usual, but with an Aussie BBQ twist. We served up BBQ sausages with egg, bacon and coleslaw on a very hot summer evening to round out a great day…

Thank you to our wonderful local community and beyond, for the generous donations of clothing and books for this week as with every week and to our wonderful Volunteers  who are the engine inside the CareVAN!

And while on the subject of Australia Day, special  THANKS  to team lead Andrew Scott, CEO and last year’s Australia Day Citizen of the Year, upon whom has rested the responsibility of steering Carevan through a most extraordinary year.

It was a hot, hectic and rewarding day .. Good to be ( Carevan Blacktown ) Aussies

Carevan kicks Off for 2021

Carevan kicked off 2021 with our first evening get together for the year on Tuesday this week, welcoming back many of our regular family; guests, volunteers and amazing community members, at the Lalor Park Community centre, all masked up and COVID safe and back to service for another year.

We served up delicious meals kindly donated to Carevan by OzHArvest, through a joint venture with the Tyndale Christian school, as well as our regular lovely meals from Norwest and two scrumptious Fritattas made from the eggs of our feathered friends, the chooks at Merryn, Brenda, Piper and MacKenzie’s place.

OzHarvest is an amazing and inspirational organisation and it was such a pleasure (not to mention great luck!) to have had this opportunity to be associated with them. Thank you, Shannon, Dahnu and Talez and the whole OzHArvest group for your amazing work in the community at large and for our Tuesday evening meals, helping us put together our first service for the year…

And huge thanks to Tyndale’s team for nominating Carevan as the recipient of this donation

As always, our own Kitchen queens Kimbalee, Kym and Tracey were hard at work heating, serving and coordinating meals and dessert donated by Hunter Hampers, while our amazing volunteers, Joel, Jade, Kendall, Bruce and Andrew got busy with hall set up, packing up hampers with the goodies from Foodbank … And big Thanks too, to Shahereen, visiting us for the first time to bestow upon us a generous donation, we set her to work, putting her through her paces but still smiling at the end.

And kicking off with HUGE community support and care, our enormous THANKS to the generous community STARS Amy, Kerry, Vic, Daniel and Tina who arrived with donations of clothing, toys, school and hygiene supplies, takeaway containers and much more for the community donation tables… such support is the backbone of our service and we can’t thank you all enough.

A special delivery too of chocolatey goodness by way of a bulk donation of MILO in a very BIG bag and loads of teeny tiny hot chocolate marshmallows from the Blacktown Kildare Masonic Lodge… THANK YOU

Or if you are interested in helping out with our food pick-ups rather than the evening meal services, please get in touch with us on 0427 457 030 or email [email protected] we’d love to chat with you

          

Happy Christmas and Thank You ALL

Carevan Blacktown’s Christmas celebrations are done and dusted for another year. Always our busiest and ‘buzziest’ night of the year and 2020 was no exception.

We served large numbers, around 150 people, well in excess of previous years and brought tinselled happiness and some of Santa’s magic to end this challenging year by way of a scrummy meal, food parcels and Chrissy Hampers, gifts and hygiene and care packages, to add a little pizazz to the Christmas Season and sprinkle some sparkle around the community.

We cannot begin, well we can actually but we may not finish, to express our enormous gratitude and try to offer up adequate THANKS to our generous and exceptionally kind community. YOU have ensured that the community Carevan serves on your behalf, has had a very Bountiful and Merry Christmas season…

Heavenly THANKS to the angels and big-hearted community members who offered time, donations and feet on the ground, hands to put together hampers, wrap presents, serve food and endless cups of tea and yet more kindly souls to hand out those hampers, food and care packs, set up and wait tables and try (successfully, we think) to instil some of Christmas’s special vibe, into each and every interaction.

These wonderful members of the community and honorary Carevan volunteers, included a handful of children and their lovely parents, decorating trees, laying tables and hanging lights, tidying up, making up hampers and being generally amazing. They worked tirelessly and constantly throughout a long day, with the sort of tenacity that as the song lyrics go, were ‘making spirits bright’ Children it’s said, make Christmas special and these kids put in as much as anyone got out of our celebrations! THANKS Breanna, Taylor, James, Wayne, Melody and Dale!

THANKS to the various Carevan volunteers past and present, regular friends and supporters, who also popped in and out throughout the day to pack hampers and prepare and serve the meals. THANKS Dave and Rachel, Bill and Eileen, both Natalies, Daniel, Tracey, Jade and Taz, James, Paul, Karen, Annie, Matthew, Alison, Colin, Linh, Annie and Stewart, Michael, Lliam, Karenza, Joel, Cameron… You are an awesome army of care and compassion and we are blessed to have such a team.

Thanks to Blanket Patrol Western Sydney, Carevan’s buddies and an awesome team in their own right, who joined us to take care of the clothing and special items of love and warmth .. Lissa, Pat and Hezekiah … you are the Christmas Spirit of giving its very self.

Tremendous THANKS to Mayor Tony Bleasdale and Deputy Mayor, Julie Griffiths, who took time out of very busy seasonal schedules to come and have a chat, make a cuppa and hand out hampers to members of their happy and grateful community.

THANKS to all the organisations and individuals who generously provided tinned food, treats, hygiene and pantry items and gifts galore for the hampers; the Blacktown Sai Centre, Kellyville High school, the Kings Langley Scout Group, Blacktown Workers Club, Foodbank, Hunter Hampers, Share the Dignity, Jeni Simmons and friends, and the many other individuals who reached out to us to donate gifts and goods for Christmas time.

Thanks to Marlene and Glenda, Vic and Daniel’s neighbourhood locals for filling Santa’s sack and his sleigh to the brim with toys for children of all ages … and to Katie and Ellen for wrapping presents galore!

Thanks to Robyn and Garry, to Merryn and Brenda and to the committee members for the Christmas fare with all the trimmings… Delicious trifle and a 4.2kg Xmas Pudding… not to mention the committee members kitchen wizardry in producing a meal fit for Queens and Kings of Lalor Park.

THANKS also for last-minute orders filled for chicken and extra Veg from our Xmas superstar ‘Lizzie Chicken’

Thanks to incredibly supportive Blacktown Council for use of the hall. Access to this great facility meant we were able to ‘deck the hall’ with lights and tinsel and could set up our first ever pretty Christma

s tree. Big glittery THANKS to all the little hands that decorated that tree and placed presents for all the children, at its feet.

Community Christmas tables spilled out into the evening light with tables indoors and out, creating a lovely community meal together, social connection and good food in a COVID safe environment, with table service to add a special Christmas touch of dignity

Thanks to our committee; Kym, Kimbalee, Taylor and Lynne for the tireless work behind the scenes and to the fluoro Green army who serve throughout the year and step up especially at Christmas to bring the year to a festive close ….

And huge cookies and cream love to our very own Santa, Bruce … a gentle man who is ‘Santa’ all year long with or without the suit… and his lovely other ½ Lyn, who kindly lends him to us each week

The evening was a resounding collaborative success and we are honoured to have been able to create such an event on the community’s behalf and because of its generosity.

Lastly but not ‘leastly’ this feast was followed a few days later by Christmas morning BBQ for some 30-40 guests. Always a popular event, we added a little more Christmas love, supported by the fabulous Pamela Rope and her colleagues and friends, who donate breaky items towards BBQ deliciousness, bread rolls and Christmas cakes. More hampers, cuppas and a laid-back lovely morning to see out the Carevan Christmas season … for many, this is the extent of their Christmas day and it’s a joy to be able to add a dash of community care and companionship… a perfect ending. Blue Year in Review Christmas Card-3

Carevan’s fluoro elves are all ‘santa’d’ out for another year and we are happy Carevanites. Readying ourselves for 2021, when hopefully the new ‘norm’ is a relaxed, happy and healthy one which, will see us reunited with friends and family… but in the meantime, THANKS for your love and extraordinary care for the Carevan Family and those we serve.

We’ve added some photos, loads were taken but we’re mindful of folks privacy and dignity … but you can see glimpse from our gorgeously happy volunteer photos and pics, that this was a fab season, despite the trials and tribulations. Our care for each other and those most in need is not diminished by a tricky year but rather amplified .. ‘twas the season for it after all

OH… and THANKS to our amazing CEO Andrew, a rock and a rock star and a logistics master … who did more picking up, lifting, packing and general Carevan sleigh guiding than Rudolf himself … THANK YOU

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year .. and see you in it

Past and Present

Better With Chickens

Carevan is now the very lucky recipient of a regular supply of freshly laid eggs, courtesy of some of the funkiest named chickens in the neighbourhood. 🐓

These fine feathered friends; Edna, Cassie, Pearl, Avery, Ginger, Daphne, Callie, Olive, Honey and Irene, have grown from little chicks to egg-laying beauties, and are now honorary volunteers for Carevan. 🐥

What We Do

Carevan Blacktown meets every Tuesday evening at Lalor Park Community Hall

We are busy setting up and packing hampers from 6:30 and open doors at 7:30 pm.

We serve hot nutritious meals to all those who come along and provide

a variety of other goods provided to Carevan by our generous contributors.

Carevan creates a welcoming venue to share a meal and an evening with others,

fostering a sense of community and providing support for those in need.

Everyone is welcome

https://www.facebook.com/CarevanBlacktown

[email protected]

carevanblacktown.org.au

Lalor Park Library; Cnr. Freeman Street and Northcott Road, Lalor Park

Carevan Blacktown was founded in 2011 and is an affiliate of The Carevan Foundation formed By Dr John Brabant in Albury many years earlier. Members of the Blacktown local area, who were friends of Dr Brabant, saw a need for a similar service in the local area and established Carevan Blacktown.

Carevan Blacktown is a smaller entity and our weekly meal service is the focal point of our efforts, but we are no less dedicated to the objective to serve those less fortunate than ourselves. Like the Foundation, we aim to promote and put into practice the mission “…to create a sense of identity, a sense of belonging and a sense of achievement. … focused on changing “us” and “them” to become “we…”.

Carevan serves those battling hardship and disadvantage of all kind; homelessness, financial hardship, isolation and loneliness principal among these. We strive to provide a meal of substance for the body, while meeting the bigger objective of social inclusion across all demographics and all circumstance.

Each week Carevan provides a meal service in Lalor Park Community hall. Run by a team of dedicated and diligent volunteers, we create a warm, welcoming and non-judgemental setting. The community are able to come together to share a meal and some time, to connect with each other and with a community that cares for them.

Carevan collects and supplies fruit and vegetables from local businesses, donated to supplement the weekly meal service. We provide take away meals to accommodate families and individuals into the week, extras that might otherwise not be affordable or accessible.

Carevan works in collaboration with all our supporters, who donate time, food, money, items of care and support, delivering these goods each week to those most in need.

Our business supporters include The Masonic Club Blacktown, Roseville and Chatswood Rotary Club and the Richmond Rotary Club, Dearest Lips, Genworth Financial, Daily Fresh and of course the Norwest and Tyndale Christian Schools who make and store the meals we serve each week.

We were lucky enough to be recipients of the Commonwealth Bank’s ‘CommBank Staff Foundation Community Grant’ in 2020 and the Federal Office of Greenway’s community grant 2018, which enabled the purchase of a second hand van in early 2019 to replace the old and iconic van, in which the Carevan had begun in Blacktown.

And of course, the backbone of our work is the countless individuals who reach out to Carevan to donate all manner of contributions. Without our amazing community support, we would truly just be a van!

Carevan conducts blanket and clothing appeals, supply hygiene and general home care products and are the conduit for a generous community donating items to those in need, on the community’s behalf.

Carevan are growing year by year and our need for community support does not diminish with this growth. We are in desperate need of a warehouse for example, in which to store the items delivered and donated to us, with which to serve the community with.

We are in constant weekly need of consumables such as plates, takeaway containers, disposable cutlery, serving foil trays, pantry items and long-life milk and custard just to name a few!

We are enormously grateful to all those who support our endeavours and follow our work.  We would love you to follow us on Facebook, share our postings and join with us in making life a little easier for those less fortunate than ourselves.

And we’d especially love to hear from you if you have a storage solution for us  🙂