Carevan Blacktown Christmas Video 2024
A Picture is worth a thousand words
This beautiful video, taken at Christmas 2024, comes to us from our talented friends Oliver and Liam at Blueboy Films and we LOVE it. 
Too often lost in the whirlwind of organisation, hard work and frenetic activity that culminates in this tremendous Christmas community event, on the day and in the months leading up to it ( & most weeks for that matter too) SO it is both a privilege and invaluable feedback, to be able to take pause and listen to some kind words from those we serve and hear just what a difference we can all make – do all make – together
We don’t need to say anything else – except Thank YOU to all who make Carevan Blacktown possible – our green angels are the most amazing, dynamic and giving human beings, our supporting partners are kind and benevolent beyond words and our community is generous without bounds ~ Without YOU all we would grind to a halt, so it is wonderful to be able to share this loveliness with you.
Our volunteers and supporters give tirelessly to Carevan Blacktown and to the community we support ~ from all kinds of skillset, experience, passion, background and profession. There are too many contributors, at Xmas and throughout the year, to mention for fear of leaving any one of them out, but each and every contribution is worth its weight in gold ( or green!)
As one of our lovely supporters said recently – Carevan Blacktown is a great way to “re-pleasant your heart”
here’ a little snippet ….
Council Visit
We were very pleased to welcome along to Carevan Blacktown, Cr Brad Bunting, Mayor of Blacktown City and Colin, to join in our Tuesday evening service and see what we do each week first hand.. and, just as we do with all our “volunteers” , visitors and anyone willing to hold a serving spoon, fold some clothing or set up hall tables … we put the gents to work ~ and they did a sterling job 🏆
Thank you for your interest, enthusiasm and support of our service and work.
We have long enjoyed the support of Blacktown City Council and can’t do what we do without this important and special relationship.
We are grateful for all the council’s support our work and the work of local charities of all kind in the community we care for together.
We cannot do it alone and we thank you for your assistance~ from the hall booking team who make the use of the hall available and possible behind the scenes, to special event support, like Christmas Hamper distribution to the simplest of caring gestures ~ the serving of a bowl of food for someone in need.
Come visit with us anytime – you are always welcome at the Carevan Blacktown communal tables ~ we’ll have serving spoons ready and waiting 🍝
Vote for our very own Westfield Local Hero Nominee 2024
Our very own CEO and hero Andrew has been nominated by a couple of community supporters for the Westfield Local Hero program
We know what a local community champion he is and we need your votes to see that other’s know too.
Jump onto the link and vote away 💚
Lots of worthy competition and community care and work out there to have been chosen from and we are very proud of our CEO, his nomination and shortlisting.
💚
Thank YOU
THANKS to all the people who purchased, gathered and delivered warmth and kindness this past few weeks in response to our winter appeal. We have received knitted, fleecy and woollen kindness in all forms and fashions this past month, and we are so very grateful – and a whole lot warmer for the love.
There are so many kind people involved in this fantastic response and we send out a big collective hand knitted winter THANK YOU to you ALL – most sincerely from the bottom of our furry hearts & on behalf of all those you’ve helped to warm up !!
Tuesday evening just as we were locking up the hall for another week, a gentleman arrived at the hall door ~ he’d come by push bike to see a friend in the area but hadn’t made it before becoming unwell. We called an ambulance and sat and waited with him on the stairs, wrapped him in the beautifully knitted blankets we had been donated and gave him a new sleeping bag.
Rake thin and homeless and ‘living’ in a local train station stairwell for many months~ he did not complain about his life at all ~ in fact the only thing he actually asked for was a song request on the iPhone of one of our volunteers – he wanted to hear Charley Pride’s “Hard Time Will Be The Best Time” he sang along while we remaining volunteers waited with him for the ambulance to arrive. Then off he went with the lovely gentle paramedics to get medical attention he needed and, thankfully, a couple of nights in a warm bed – he made sure those blankets and the sleeping bag went with him too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOVVfVCjqaM
When people receive support from us, they thank us, but it is our amazing community who quietly work behind the scenes to support us ~ YOU deserve the thanks !! Knitting, donating, baking, cooking, food collections, financial support and community connection of all types. It is YOU who deserve the thanks – and so we thank you (and our amazing green volunteer army) for helping us to keep the wheels turning to deliver care where it’s needed most.😘
And finally ~ Thank you to our awesome volunteer Jasmine and to Jo and the Street Side Medics team who came along a few weeks ago to administer Fluvax to members of our community who hadn’t yet had the opportunity to get vaccinated and wanted to. What a wonderful resource you are.
Carevan Blacktown’s green ‘machine’
In extra exciting news, we have decked out our truck with a bright beautiful decal thanks to a generous grant from Maddocks
We are enormously grateful for the fabulous background artwork by local artist DanielleRG and to the ever patient, knowledgeable and professional Paul, Sandy and the team at Rae’s Graphic Signs for guiding us from concept to truck panel!
We LOVE it and are so proud of it.. it is a wonderful ‘vehicle’ (literally) to promote our Carevan Blacktown’s service and that of the groups who made purchase of the much needed the truck a possibility in the first place ~ The Workers Lifestyle Group and the Masonic Lodge Blacktown Kildare
Thank you all for your amazing support and for making our green machine a reality
