Carevan Blacktown is back in action !
Carevan Blacktown is back in action and we couldn’t be happier 
Carevan started back after our COVID hiatus, on July 7th. We are now in warm, dry and spacious quarters, inside the Lalor Park Community Hall.
We are catering as always, for those in need of a warm meal, fruit and veg and other goodies for the week and most importantly, the renewal of friendships put on hold and connections to the generosity and care of the community
We are adhering to social distancing, checking in on arrival and hand sanitiser galore.
We have had a couple of weeks already of cold and wet winter weather, making us all the more appreciative of our new digs and would like to say huge thanks to Blacktown Council for their support of our return venture.
Everyone is welcome every Tuesday evenings at the Lalor Park Community Hall from 7:30 pm
VOLUNTEERING WITH CAREVAN BLACKTOWN
INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING WITH CAREVAN BLACKTOWN? 💚
We are reaching out to the community, offering an opportunity to volunteer with a team of people who are passionate about making a difference!
We are planning on holding a training session on zoom for potential new volunteers to learn about Carevan and how YOU can help 😊
Take a look at our Facebook page, send us an email or message… We’d love to hear from you if you’d like to join us or help out in any way
Keeping Warm into Winter
Carevan Blacktown Winter Blanket and Sock Appeal
Warm bodies, Warm Hearts and Warm Toes,
HUGEST thanks to those who have donated already to our Winter Blanket and Sock Appeal. Your kindness and warm generosity are truly appreciated.
We LOVE the blankets, (please don’t spend any more than $25 on a blanket!) warm stuff or just a pair of socks. Preloved blankets are lovely too, but please in good condition… just as you’d be happy to receive yourself
Get in touch on our email or my messenger if you would like to donate something warm and we will arrange drop off details or come to you, to collect from verandahs/ porches and driveways so you can stay warm, safe and at home. 
Thank YOU, Thirza, Glaiza, Carol (and daughter) Naomi, Buffy, Jaimee ( and her mum) Jan, Anne and Anne-Marie
Carevan Blacktown Winter Blanket and Sock Appeal 2020
Carevan Blacktown Winter Blanket and Sock Appeal
Warm bodies, Warm Hearts and Warm toes,
Lovely to be inside, warm in front of fires, with warm clothing and comfy items to pull on and over us, but tough times for though for those who cannot get warm, who haven’t the extra money for heating bills and most especially for those in our community who haven’t a roof over their heads.
And so it’s time to run our Winter Blanket and Sock Appeal. We’d LOVE a blanket, (please don’t spend any more than $25 on a blanket!) and a pair of socks. Preloved blankets are lovely too, but please in good condition… just as you’d be happy to receive yourself.
Carevan Blacktown are still waiting to be able to restart our meal services, it is isn’t far, but it isn’t yet so, in the meantime, our great friends at Blanket Patrol Western Sydney will distribute blankets and donations during their rounds of the local parks and places where those in need of this your fluffy and warming kindness can receive it.
Let us know if you would like to donate something warm and we will come to you, to collect from verandahs/ porches and driveways so you can stay warm, safe, and at home.
If you’d love to donate but are keen to stay away from the shopping centres, you can donate to Carevan Blacktown and we’ll grab something on your behalf, just get in touch with us (here on Facebook/ messenger on our email/website as below) and we’ll help you to help us keep someone warm this winter season. (please don’t donate via Paypal.. we’re not connected … but you can donate via our website if you’re keen on this option)
Thank you, generous souls one and all … from the bottom our hearts to our warm toes
While we are waiting
Carevan, like the world, is on pause in this challenging year, but there are still some little wheels turning and we have found some new friends and support along the way.
We would like to send out a HUGE warm Virtual HUG 💚 of thanks to the Plate-it-Forward crew at Columbo Social Enmore, who have been making meals for Carevan, and many other programs like us, to help care for those at disadvantage and to keep fridges stocked with meals while we all wait…
AND to 🌟 Harvey Norman Blacktown🌟 who have generously donated a chest Freezer to Carevan to help us stock these wonderful gifts of care until we’re able to hand them out in turn 🌟
Thank you also to the kind souls, who have reached out to Carevan over the past weeks, to offer help during this tough time. Your generosity and kindness, especially in the face of your 💚 own challenges, is the fuel that keeps us going in good times and the less than good…
The following quote is taken from the Plate-it-Forward website, so you’ll see why we love them ❣️
“Food is designed to bring people together, to share stories, to check in on one another, and to celebrate being the social creatures we are.”
Meanwhile, stay well and looking forward to meeting up again as soon as we’re able to share a story and check-in… 🎉
And THANKS Plate-it-Forward and Harvey Norman Blacktown 💚🚐💚
https://colombosocial.com.au/plateitforward
Coronavirus Message
To all our friends and supporters
Carevan Blacktown regret to advise we
have now suspended our Tuesday
evening meal services until further notice,
in accordance with current Coronavirus directives and restrictions
Please reach out to us via Facebook, this webpage,
or via our email address and if we are able, we will
endeavour to assist you with a hamper if you are in need of food.
We will be back as soon as restrictions are lifted.
Follow us on Facebook to watch for our return.
Stay home, stay well and take care of each other.
The Opposite of Poverty isn’t Wealth in Monetary Terms
Posting from the Wayside Chapel, Such good work and wise words
Dear Inner Circle,So often we sell poverty short when we think it’s simply about a lack of cash. It is so much more than that, it can be a sense of despair, a lack of opportunity, a deep hole of hopelessness or the inability to see any future beyond immediate crisis. The opposite of poverty also isn’t wealth in monetary terms. It’s a connection to a healthy community that can embrace you through all the challenges and seasons of life. I often brag, everywhere I can, about Wayside’s ability to sit with people in a way that embodies an often repeated motto around here, “I would rather be lost with you than saved without you”. Every day, even through the challenges, there are hundreds of little acts of kindness going on throughout our building. Yesterday a young man was tending to an elder who is completely blind, and amidst the hundreds of other demands on him at that moment, he took the time to usher him gently into the shower, asking him the whole way “Are you ok Uncle?” He had tasks far more urgent, but I doubt that any were more important that day.
I once heard a wise woman who credits Wayside with helping her turn her life around say that “people may not remember your name, but they will never forget your kindness”. When existence is hanging on by a thread, acts of kindness can add another thread one by one, that when woven together can provide a strong invitation back to life. This will never be an act of management or ‘fixing’; it’s when someone at Wayside sees a spark in a person’s face that is still beautiful, and in that exchange, someone remembers who they really are. Sometimes, just sometimes, we witness a moment of turning, that spark of life, when hope emerges. Faith in humanity is about holding tenderly the belief that the good of all the human race means the good of every human being.
A few years ago I saw desperation of a different kind in the eyes of a man I had never seen before. He asked for some assistance and I gave him what I could. After he left I realised that I had never seen him before, and assumed I’d never hear from him again. Well, I got an email last week saying “You won’t remember this, but after I was injured at work we quickly ran out of money while we fought for compensation. That day you met me, I was desperate. The money you gave us helped us buy groceries instead of defaulting on our rent, that saved us from being evicted, the next week I received my payout. I want to thank you”.Now, it’s my turn to thank you for your generous response for Valentine’s Day. We hit our target and that means we will remain well-stocked with fresh supplies of undies that will help us say “I love you!” all year long!
Thank you for kindness, our Inner Circle.
Jon
Jon Owen
Pastor & CEO
Wayside Chapel
CONGRATULATIONS
Carevan Blacktown is incredibly proud to announce that our very own CEO, Andrew Scott has been named Blacktown’s Citizen of the Year at the Australia Day Awards 2020. He’s a humble soul and not big on accolades of any kind but this one needs a big shout out!!
As our CEO, heading up the wonderful team that is the Carevan Volunteer group, he’s a pretty decent bloke and a very nice man with a great big heart 💚 He works tirelessly behind the scenes to keep the van wheels turning, and while a very reluctant one, Andrew is a truly worthy recipient of this deserved recognition.
In a special addition to the day, Andrew met up with one of our Carevan community superstars, Rafael, the 6-year-old champion who raised money by collecting recyclables and donated a mountain of blankets to Carevan’s winter appeal. Rafael was a finalist for “young citizen of the year”👏 … perhaps a future Carevan CEO in the making ❣️
CONGRATULATIONS Gentlemen .. we are so proud of you both
AND …. Carevan would like to ALSO send out huge CONGRATULATIONS to all the nominees and winners… everywhere !!
There are so many worthwhile projects and endeavours being undertaken in the local community and beyond, by some truly amazing and generous people, striving to make things better, doable and OK for all.
https://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/News-Media/Australia-Day-Awards
THANK YOU
Each and every week Carevan are contacted by individuals and groups wanting to help out in some way with the work we try to achieve with those doing it tough amongst us.
Recently a local dentist got in touch to offer his assistance and while we do not ( yet.. perhaps some day) visit schools with a dental program like our founder Dr John Brabant, his Sun Smiles program and our affiliates in Albury, we were just as amazed by the Dr’s generous offer to put his skills and time to use locally to help those in need.
We are constantly amazed by our community’s care for each other, wanting to help in whatever way or skill is at their disposal .. be it dentistry, food, clothing or items with which to serve our meals … ALL essential factors in their own way.
This week has been absolutely no exception to this lovely rule and Carevan would like to send out a BIG THANK YOU to Carol and Dan at Happytime Novelty Company in Blacktown for the AMAZING gift of over 3500 dinner plates, with which to serve our guests their meals.
This gift will take care of many, many meals to come and we cannot thank you enough, Carol and Dan, for your support!!
Being the recipients of such wonderful kindness and charity enables us to fulfill our mission to serve those less fortunate members of the community and we could not do it without the help of such generous and kind people.
Thank you ❣️
https://www.happytime.com.au/
Christmas 2019 THANK YOU ALL
Happy New Year to all but before we get too far into 2020 some Big Carevan THANK YOUs for 2019
Christmas evening service on the 17th and Christmas morning BBQ were truly wonderful celebrations, the culmination of an amazing year of kindness and generosity shown towards those in need and to our small charity, Carevan Blacktown.
THANK YOU to ALL our supporters and contributors; we simply cannot thank you all enough and are equally loathe to miss a single person’s act of kindness or attention, so we will resort to the group THANK YOU …. Every act of care MATTERS and its effect is felt at the tables at which we serve.
THANK YOU for the food; sending food, cooking food, serving food! To the schools whose classes make our meals happen every week and who do it with such graceful accommodation of Carevan’s needs and to those who add extra meals to these weekly services throughout the year.
THANK YOU for the collection, donation, and delivery of food, bread, fruit and Veg, toys, blankets, clothing, crockery, CDs/ DVDs, fridges, hygiene products, plates, knives and forks, cups and a glorious mountain of MILO
THANK YOU for reaching out to us on Facebook or by email, for the simple messaging or “liking and Sharing” with your friends and community. For dropping by on the Christmas services or through the year, on a Tuesday evening meal service to say ‘hello’, see what we do, see how you can help or just have a chat.
THANK YOU to the 6-year-old boy and the young school students raising money by collecting recycling, donating blankets, through their concern for people being cold during the winter months. To the elderly church companion who knows someone – who knows someone, donating money towards our efforts, and to all the individuals coordinating collections, contributions from schools, clubs, and business and community members.
THANK YOU to the worship groups extending a helping hand and to the early childhood centers, for the collections and educating young charges on social justice, in caring for people in need, people you may never know simply by leading through example.
THANK YOU to the big businesses whose employees get behind a challenge on Carevan’s behalf, such as local club staff taking up knitting needles in their tea breaks, hand-making scarves, and beanies, to the small business owners making cash donations or pledging 10% of the income earned to Carevan’s purpose.
THANK YOU for the buckets and buckets, and innumerable bags, of toys, tinned and dry food and other products, collected by workplaces ensuring stocked Christmas hampers. For the first time this year enabling us to put together a Santa Sack, so blessed were we with toys and games, filling hampers with the nice and the necessary, making Christmas special for one and all, big and small.
THANK YOU, for the readymade beautiful handbags, and Christmas hampers. These special gifts, filled with hygiene and pampering items remind individuals that they matter and are thought of, all year but most especially at Christmas, items which are otherwise an expensive necessity or luxury… Because everyone deserves a little extra sparkle every now and then
THANK YOU for all the donations of food and time for Christmas service and for the Christmas morning BBQ. For the many happy faces arriving to deliver, pack, wrap, cook, serve and chat with all who come to benefit from these tangible acts of love and community support.
THANK YOU to the supporters we won’t ever know, like those individuals who added a little something to the grocery list this year, to pop into the donated tubs and bags, and still the many others we do know and who’s tremendous generosity surprises us each time we meet.
THANK YOU to those who have supported Carevan since its beginnings and the many new faces who’ve joined us along the way in 2019. To our regular supporters and old friends, whose heartstrings bring them back, with hampers for example or fresh milk rather than ‘long life’ for Christmas meal services… SO many, many little personal touches and work that add more joy to the season and the year
THANK YOU to all our amazing volunteers, who dedicate their time each month to serve meals, with a welcoming smile to all those who come to sit the communal table. To those ladies who came together to prepare, pack and wrap our wonderful bounty into the lovely Chrissy Hampers.… And for extra “shifts” Christmas service 17th and on Christmas morning … extending traditional family time into the “Carevan family”
THANK YOU for our amazing “partnerships” with Hunter’s Hampers, Parklea Markets, Roshni and the Blacktown Sai Centre, The Norwest and Tyndale Christian schools and Blanket Patrol Western Sydney, Elyse, and Celeste. With Rotary Roseville and Richmond, Genworth, The Blacktown Masonic group and Sydney Business Web. And to the Federal minister’s office for thinking our work worthy of your support
There are photos aplenty and video or two, but only a few chosen to illustrate the success of the Christmas period, ensuring the privacy of those we serve, for whom the need for Carevan’s care, on behalf of the community, is brought about through necessity and hardship, but is valuable and valued beyond words nevertheless
We cannot succeed without you all, each and every one of you
Happy New Year and THANK YOU sincerely and humbly for a wonderful 2019
