Carevan Blacktown | Non-profit organisation

Carevan Blacktown

Address: 1 Freeman Street 2147 Lalor Park

Website: https://carevanblacktown.org.au

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25.01.2022 Carevan has been back in action 3 months now, in the luxurious digs of the Lalor Park Community hall. Our numbers grow and with the warmer weather we are able to open up the doors and set up tables on the veranda ... it’s a very fancy allowing people to enjoy the mild evenings as the year begins to close out Just as people the world over have had to employ alternate strategies, in business and personal lives, so too have Carevan been forced to think ‘outside the van’ and... as is often the way, we have found ourselves in a really nice spot and we are very grateful to the Blacktown Council for the facility and the use of it each week. Thank you, awesome volunteers, for the cooking, van loading then unloading then loading again! Packing, cleaning and hampering. For the table juggling and chair twirling, for manning the stage, the doors and the serving tables. For the washing, wiping down and sweeping up and the many, many cups of tea and coffee. For the behind the scenes mashing, stirring, fetching and pitching in. For the smiles, the laughs and for making Tuesday evenings a big virtual hug for all those who need one... We can’t do it without you ALL.. This week’s fab fluoro team; Kym, Kimbalee, Bianca, Josh (of Kym’s Kitchen brigade) Ramzi, Naomi, Jasene, Jade, Ursula, Tracey, Matthew, Andrew and our Bruce ..THANK YOU Big love to Donna and Hunters Hampers, you are a treasure and a trove all in one, and to Foodbank for access to such a great service. To Blanket Patrol Western Sydney’s lovely Cecilia who came along to join in and (wo) man the clothing table See you all next week follow us, get in touch Christmas is around the corner

25.01.2022 Some 43 guests at our tables this week and the Carevan Angels work hard every week in delivering this care, in these COVID tricky times, while maintaining our core values of warmth and care for those in need. Need doesn’t always come in packaging we expect nor is it something we can eradicate, but we can help out by coming together as a community to demonstrate and deliver support. Similarly, Carevan cannot do any of this without the awesome teamwork from our volunteers an...d the support we receive from our amazing supporters. Thanks, this particularly chilly Sydney week, for the lovely hand-knitted beanies from Catriona, Cheryl and Jennie and to Kylie for the jumpers. These lovely items are always snapped up and we love it all and the extra smidge of loveliness that comes with the handmade items. HUGEST thanks to the indomitable Kym, Kimberlee and Donna for the lovely meals; Kym’s’ chicken crumbed kitchen, Kimberlee’s busted back and Donna’s amazing ‘magic pudding’ supply of treats, add to the deliciousness we receive from the Norwest school kitchen champs. Thank you Tracey for help with Foodbank pick up and to Foodbank itself for access to this amazing resource Carevan puts together hampers each week to supplement stretched budgets and fill empty shelves for the week. All the goodies and donations we receive, like the pantry and hygiene goods from our friends at the Blacktown Sai Centre go into these hampers and home to assist through the week to come. If you would like to donate this type of thing; pantry items (spaghetti/ beans/ tinned food/ soups / long life products) or hygiene items just get in touch via our email address or Facebook/ messenger OR feel free to drop by on a Tuesday evening to say Hi and see how we manage and pass on every single item of love and care we receive, to those in need. Thanks to our AMAZING volunteers and for the cameo appearances by Matthew, Rafael, Renee and Cash Thank YOU ALL for putting the CARE in Carevan And a little kookiness too

24.01.2022 What an amazing community to be a part of ... and such hope for the future of care and consideration for fellow man if Rafael and his lovely family are anything to go by

23.01.2022 A super 'Worker's' night out with the Carevan Family last night. We were joined by our Fabulous friends and supporters at the Blacktown Workers Club, who came along to deliver tinned food and pantry items donated by the club staff. This amazing little team rolled up their sleeves and got to work to sort and pack hampers, set up the hall and help greet and serve the Carevan guests for the evening. We simply cannot thank you all enough, for the wonderful gift of the donated ...items and just as important the time spent to help make the evening run smoothly and a fun evening to boot!! .. sporting the club's staff T-Shirts which read "Workers" they are just that ... WONDERFUL worker bees .. come back soon!! Thanks to Roshni and her amazing team at the Blacktown Sai Centre for the pantry and hygiene goods, to Share The Dignity for the amazing hygiene care packages and to Daniel, Joan and Anne Maree for scarves and clothing. We are grateful for all the lovely things we receive to pass on, as a very happy conduit of the care between a lovely community and the people they are looking out for. Thanks to Kym and Tracey for the Foodbank pick, car's full of food to create hampers and to add to the meals for the night. We really appreciate this extra time out of your busy weeks Huge thanks also to Kym, KimBAlee and the fantabulous Bianca who mashed and smashed a mountain of potatoes as part of the Corless kitchen wizardry and our longterm superstars at Norwest Christian School.. and the marvellous Donna at Hunter Hampers.. we LOVE you guys Thanks, FAB volunteers; Ramzi, Karenza, Matthew, Tracey and Ursula who donned the fluoro green for the first whirl around the Lalor Park Hall... And of course, team lead Lynne .. for her umpteenth dance around the carevan tables It was a super busy evening and we can't do any of this without you hard-working generous souls, supporters and community. Get in touch with Carevan via messenger or email ... we'd love to hear from you

23.01.2022 The venturers are wanting your help to support our community. We would love it if our joey mob, cub pack, scouts, parents, families, friends and our leaders wil...l help us in donations of as much tins of food as possible for our local community provider (care van). Care van provides hot meals to the local community as well as bags of food, drinks, clothing, toys and recently have started having a barber and hair dresser volunteer their services to help our lalor Park community. Our venturers have volunteered twice for this wonderful service and have made some great connections with local community. Our venturers are organising a massive amount of tins of food as they never have enough tins for all that come to the service but if you are unable to donate tins then any pantry items are always a must for them. Donations will be collected at our hall on any section night. (Joeys and venturers- Tuesday nights, Cubs- Wednesday night and scouts- Thursday nights)

22.01.2022 This past week Carevan were honoured to welcome along Blacktown Council Mayor, Councillor Tony Bleasdale OAM and Deputy Mayor, Councillor Julie Griffiths. It was so lovely to have these special guests and friends of Carevan at our communal table, to chat with our green shirt crew and some of the folks who came along for a warm evening’s meal and company on Tuesday evening. We are hugely grateful for the support of the council team for our work, not the least of which is acc...ess to the wonderful hall. We are thrilled that Tony and Julie were able to come along to see what it is that Carevan does and spend some time out of their busy schedules with us. Welcome guests indeed and extra pairs of hands to set up the hall, bring in bags of food and juggle table lifting ... support in action! ... and thanks Julie for lots of bags for packing hampers!! HUGE Thanks to both of you .. please come again We were also absolutely thrilled to have our little blanket collecting champion Rafael back with us. He is very proudly, a whole year older and is now 6! Rafael has collected recyclables to raise money and buy SO many blankets to contribute to our 2020 Blanket appeal and like last year we are touched beyond words by this generous little boy with the huge community spirit and his beautiful family, Renee and Cash... thank you SO very much your generosity is warmth itself and great promise for the future of community caring for its most vulnerable members. Every week we are joined by our partner in care, Blanket Patrol Western Sydney, thank you for this support and partnership and for big and small hands helping with hall set up Thanks to the fab team at the Blacktown Sai Centre who donated warm clothing items and pantry goods, while COVID puts a hold on their lovely cooking. And, of course, thanks to our amazing Volunteers who work so hard, cook, clean, pack, serve, collect and smile all the way through to get it all sorted and keep the wheels turning... we can’t do it without you ALL

22.01.2022 The Carevan crew were out in force again this week and getting busier each week. We are reminded each week of the kindness and compassion of this amazing community, so while we may say it every week, we will say it again and again We are blessed each week with donations of all kinds, such as extra pantry goods and hygiene items this week from our long time supporters Roshni and friends at the Blacktown Sai Centre This week, two of our volunteers, the dynamic duo of Kym an...d Kimberlee, flipped a mountain of burgers to add to the meal service lots of hard work from these unstoppable women .. and big thanks also to Jocelyn for the souper chicken noodle soup !! Thank You!! to Danielle, David, Chloe and Tayla for the clothing and blankets, such lovely kindnesses AND to our burger flipping Kimberlee’s parents for kitchenware, books and clothing.. adding to a little pile of love and care for others ... we are all so grateful And some more beautiful handknitted scarves from the busy hands of Anne Marie, who’s warm and welcome contributions get snapped up each week. Our Carevan family LOVE these colourful hand made pieces of kindness and warmth for strangers in need of care. Thanks too Lizzie chicken for your donation, it has gone to Norwest to be made into meals for the next lot of goodness to come out of the Norwest Christian School and their amazing kids and teachers, the back bone of our meal service. Our second Zoom training session last night, as Carevan gets with the COVID times and puts the technology to good use we are able to connect with and make new friends, to add to our old ones and build the carevan family and helping hands of kindness in the service every week. Thanks to this weeks' crew; the crazy and the marvellous Mel, Tracey, Palmina, Ramzi ( 1st night out with the Green brigade) Jade, Alison, Kym & Kimberlee (the burger flipping dinner ladies) Team lead Lynne and our tireless CEO Andrew See more

20.01.2022 The best things in our CAREVAN life are our AMAZING supporters and our volunteers Carevan is like a BIG beautiful green cupcake and we are the sum of all our ingredients!!! Thanks to all our supporters and contributors this week, our dedicated ‘bakers’ who provided meals and hampers for some 46 guests this week and countless take away for the week and for neighbours and friends who can't make it along on the night. Warmer weather, doors open and tables 'alfresco' lovely ... To Vic, Daniel and Carolyn for the clothing, school packs, thongs and scarves we love the thought you've given to what might be most needed, or useful, and the effort invested in caring for your community... we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you ‘Dearest’ Glaiza (Dearest Lips) Your unassuming and determined support for Carevan is especially awesome as a small ‘mumpreneur’ business with many other things on the agenda you are the sugar in the batter! Big green thanks to Mel and Rebecca for the extra fruit and veges to add to the bountiful hampers Carevan makes up each week, a balance of naughty, nice and necessary AND Thanks to Tracey and Kym for collecting the Foodbank goodies; without this collective care and work the much-loved hampers would not be possible. A big social distance hug to Donna and Hunter Hampers a very modern-day Magic Pudding... in its endless supply of goodness and naughtiness! Cakes, pastries and desserts galore! Which might explain your boundless energy and generosity that never tires Thank YOU to the lovely Lissa and family; Blanket Patrol Western Sydney rocking the stage this week, distributing warmth and love from up high and to Share The Dignity for the hygiene goods which provides a loving handful of dignity, just as the name suggests. To our amazing Kym and Kimbalee for the fabulous meals that burst out of their kitchens again this week to add to Norwest’s goodness. And to our fabulous cupcake star baker Bianca, for more deliciousness, polished off by all guests and volunteers alike, in approximately 10.5 seconds The icing on the Carevan Cupcake is our fab volunteers this week’s fluoro ‘green’ sprinkles on the cake top were; Matthew, Danny, Colin, Nicole, Steve, Mel, Kimbalee, Kym, Ursula, Michelle, Julie, Jasene, Naomi And of course, our team lead ‘candles’ Lynne and Andrew Carevan are always grateful for donations of any kind, we love tinned food, pantry items, long-life goods and well... just about anything it will go to someone in need If you’d like to add your own ingredients to Carevan ... please feel free to reach out on Facebook or by email .. we’d love to chat Thank you all for the week that was

20.01.2022 Very special visitors & supporters this past week

19.01.2022 THANKS this week for the generous donations of clothing, books, hygiene items, dog and cat food and pet goodies. THANKS to Roshni and the fabulous team at the Blacktown Sai centre for pantry goods and hygiene items THANKS for the Kwin’s Kitchen wizardry, an ever-growing team of gorgeous generous gals .. laughs and hard work and some interesting salad mixing methods. THANKS to Donna’s Hunter’s Hampers and your super team for the mountain of desserts and treats. THANKS Nor...west kids and teachers for meals and to those lovely chooks (owners and feathered) who’ve added eggs to the Norwest pantry THANKS Kym and Tracey for the ordering and collecting of foodits quite something to plan and order week after week, for an unknown number, meeting the needs of the generic lots of people... and to get it all in the van!! THANKS to Sophie and Linh for the hairstyling, fast becoming a firm favourite feature of the evenings We are so very grateful to you all .. frontline and behind the scenes .. we are the sum of all our parts and you are all such important parts THANKS to our amazing volunteers for whizzing around unpacking, setting up and then packing away again .. you are all such trojans and work so hard!! This week’s Rockstars Team lead Andrew, Matthew, Bruce, Naomi, Kym, Kimbalee, Tracey, Jade, Karenza, Cameron and newcomer Joel Super stuff Carevan is in need of a special volunteer to pick up food and deliver from Annangrove to Lalor Park Hall each week. We would need you for an hour on Tuesdays, btw approx. 6pm & 7pm. If you’re interested in this or know someone who might be, get in touch with us by messenger or email [email protected]

17.01.2022 We are grateful that we have a new home for tonight’s meal service out of the rain! Time: 7:30pm inside Lalor Park Community Centre

17.01.2022 Please come along to our zoom training if you are interested in potentially volunteering with us! Wednesday 12th August 7:30pm!

11.01.2022 This week’s Carevan turn around the Lalor Park hall saw us distributing a mountain of dog food and miscellaneous pet care goodies, kindly donated by the generous Heather Engel who, like our weekly addition of dog and cat food from another kind donor, is looking out for the much-loved furry friends of our Carevan family, to help care for their pets and return a little of the unconditional love pets bring to them The freshly laid eggs we were delivered from last week (and... we will lay off the puns this week) have been magically converted in Kym’s Kitchen into yummy quiches and served up for dinner this week, along with Sheppard’s pie and other fab dishes. Thank you to Kym, KimBAlee and Kristy this week for the kitchen ‘konjuring’. Clippers where whirring again as Sophie and Linh added some hairdressing style to the evening once again. We are so grateful to the ladies for their kindness and generosity, it’s a lovely addition to the Carevan evenings and a simple but wonderful gesture of care for others. Thank you to our dynamic volunteer team of superstars this week James, Kym, Kimbalee, Daniel, Michael, Alison, Karenza, Cameron and Bruce a very busy night and no rest for the wicked so we must be pretty wicked If you’d like to volunteer with us but can't wait for the quarterly training sessions or are < 18 years of age then we have good news we will be starting a modified volunteer program, for those who are 13yrs+ and /or anyone who would like to help with the packing of hampers and setting up for the evening meal services. This would involve helping out from 6:30- 7:30 setting up tables, unloading the van and packing the 50+ hampers we distribute each week .. and more fun to boot If this floats your boat get in touch with us via messenger or email and we’ll get you rowing

11.01.2022 THANK YOU for the sunshine that is our kind supporters, who regularly extend a smile towards strangers through the volunteering and donation of time, food, clothing, meals... Donations in kind ( aptly named) and grants are the fuel in the tank of Carevan's work and we cannot do without you all, no matter what the contribution Thank you for this week’s smiles To Vic and Daniel for the clothing, thongs, folders and love but most especially the time and thought put into arra...nging the collection of items. To Kym’s Kitchen trio - Bianca, Kym and KimBAlee, to our wonderful Donna and the Norwest cooking kids warm yummy meals to serve up for the evening and for takeaways into the week To Tracey & Kym for time spent at Foodbank packing the van, fighting bollards & boxes & making it out alive To Ursula for the takeaway containers, taking care of one of Carevan’s biggest outlays for the week and beyond... To Foodbank Team for the food, the service and for taking care of us. HUGE thanks to DAILY FRESH this week for their very generous ongoing support through a financial grant towards the Norwest School meal program. This donation goes directly towards purchasing food for their cooking program for Carevan. The wonderful donation, like those of our other supporters, is especially kind as, once again, it is made to improve the lives of people the donors may never meet and helps extend the sunshine into the weeks to come. A special shout out also to Bruce from Foodbank for his kind personal donation of children’s gift items for Christmas, these are the first Christmas gift donations for the year reminding us that this much anticipated season is around the corner !! A big THANK you to Rachel and Dave. We are HUGELY grateful to you for your generosity and hospitality ... quietly providing sunshine behind the scenes! Thanks to our volunteers and rays of sunshine for the week Andrew, Matthew, Kym, Kimbalee, Ursula, Karenza, Daniel, Karen, Melissa, Hamish, James, Rachel and Annie Smiles galore

10.01.2022 Carevan Volunteer Training ****UPDATE**** Tonight's Zoom Meeting link is below starting at 7.30pm Join Zoom Meeting ... https://zoom.us/j/95914101829 Meeting ID: 959 1410 1829 Passcode: Carevan Looking forward to meeting with you tonight!!!!

09.01.2022 If we have anyone interested in volunteering please express your interest here or in our private messages! We are looking to host another training evening

09.01.2022 Another awesome night with the Carevan family this week. We welcome more people each Tuesday, familiar faces returning and new ones joining us. We expect this to continue to increase as the warmer weather and lighter evenings brings us into spring. HUMONGOUS thanks as always to this week’s team of fabulous Fluoro green volunteers, put to work setting up, packing hampers and sharing a warm greeting and a chat with our Carevan guests. We simply could not do what we do witho...ut the YUM that comes from Norwest Christian School, pantry items from Foodbank and the Hunter Hampers bounty. The hampers we make up each week are gratefully received and have become a mainstay of the Tuesday evenings and the delicious meals, once more supplemented by Kym’s Kitchen, are shared at tables of friends. We are so very appreciative of the individual donations this week. Thanks to Vic with her generous personal donation of pantry goodies to add to hampers and to the amazing Anne Marie, who this week turned a talented sewing hand to making face masks for those who’d like them. And a sprinkled with fairy dust special Thank YOU to the gorgeous Bianca (our Kym’s lovely gal the kindness apple doesn’t fall far from the mamma tree!) Bianca whipped up some baking magic this week and created the most beautiful cupcakes to share with very happy recipients. These lovely acts of kindness, from huge hearts, add a little something special to lives of others who are doing things tougher than anyone should, and these acts of kindness, scrumptiousness and warmth are deeply appreciated by those who receive these lovely gifts, while we at Carevan, thank you for allowing us the privilege of distributing them to happy folks. Thank you ALL for your AMAZING care for others in need. Thanks for sharing and liking and for reaching out to Carevan.. as always, without YOUR care, we are just a VAN and thanks just don’t seem enough!

08.01.2022 Sustenance, care, kindness and a very liberal sprinkling of sugary yumminess as Carevan welcomed increasing numbers moving through the evening meal service this week. Warm meals and desserts, made with thought and generosity and supplemented with filled hamper bags, heading home to add some takeaway care for the week. Big THANKS to Foodbank for the goodies, to Carevan’s Kym and Tracey, for the pick-up and our fab green army for the whirlwind packing in time each week to bea...t the doors opening at 7:30. Thanks to Norwest Christian College kids and to Kym and Kimbalee, the Kitchen Kweens who welcomed (or roped in?) Kristy Kew and Bianca Papp this as week as sous chefs and honorary Carevan Volunteers Thank you to the dynamic Donna and Chris of Hunter Hampers for your ongoing support .. you are better than the Wonka factory No wonder our little mascot (adopted/ stolen) is a Happy little Heifer! (you’ll see her in the photos surrounded by sprinkles and icing) Our sweet sugar and spice and all things super nice volunteers this week; Matthew, Andrew, Danny, Colin, Annie, Julie, Kym, Kimbalee, Tracey (the queen of the bollard dance) Steve, Nicole, Michelle, Yvonne, and team lead Lynne. Thank you too to Cecelia for taking the stage again this week a fine performance for the Blanket Patrol Western Sydney. Thanks to Marlene, Daniel and other fabulous donors for clothing and linen to pass on to those who need, and LOVE, the generous gift that these items are. HUMONGOUS thanks to the Blacktown Council for the Xmas festivity support. We are blessed to be part of such a caring community and beneficiaries of its support for the community we all serve, support which reaches from home to the council chamber. We are grateful indeed Until next week, THANK YOU ALL so very much

08.01.2022 Another fun evening of service in Lalor Park Tuesday night, right at home now in our new digs, inside the fabulous and warm Lalor Park Community Hall. Our numbers grow as word spreads that we are operational again, this week around 35 people made it along for a nutricious meal and a hamper for the week.. numbers don't count tho, being able to help just one person in need is reward enough. We really appreciate the amazing bounty that is Foodbank, assisting us in getting pan...try supplies and fresh veg each week, topping up struggling households. Our hampers have become a mainstay of what we do each week, along with the actual meal... Especially grateful to Kym, who takes time out of her breaks to go and load her car to its roof! And Tracey for taking on this challenge too! We are so thankful for the lovely scarves, beanies and warm clothing, for the blankets and the literal warmth we are able to pass on. Thanks to busy knitting hands and big generous hearts we put out lovely hand-knitted scarves this week and they were gone in a warm flash.. Huge gratitude to those in our Carevan family of support as always, but this past week a BIG shout out to the amazing Glaiza and Dearest Lips and our regular pocket rocket- star, Donna at Hunter Hampers!! This week as with every week, we recognise our amazing volunteer team Kym, Kimbalee, Michael, Mel, Andrew, Katherine, Bruce, James, Paula and Karen and big Fluoro green welcome to our newbies Daniel and Palmina for their first Carevan gig. Our gratitude for this support extends absolutely to the virtual volunteering via Facebook liking and sharing. Such amazing networking is invaluable!! THANK YOU for the AMAZING response to Volunteering Recruiting drive. We are astounded by the many offers of help and enthusiasm for being involved in what we do. There are so many ways to be involved, so get in touch and join the upcoming ZOOM training session to find out ways you might be able to help out. Huge gratitude for all the support and contributions to our evening meal services this week as every week; food and pantry items, offers of help, collections, donations and volunteering so much care and love its hard to express our thanks! And one last big KISS to the awesome Kym and Taylor managing the Facebook requests and volunteer enquiries .. busy gals!! Thanks to each and every one who makes this all happen .. Keeps the community spirit alive and kicking

07.01.2022 Yay! We're also a finalist for the Product Award, which is under the People's Choice category. Voting starts on Monday .

07.01.2022 Our first night back since the COVID lockdown in NSW... it was wonderful to see our friends of Lalor Park Thank you to all who helped the night run smoothly especially with all of our new social distancing measures now in place!! Can’t wait to be back next Tuesday A special Thank you to our supporters who donated the food for tonight! Such great healthy food available for our community

06.01.2022 An amazing night out with the Carevan Family last night. We were joined by our Fabulous friends and supporters at Carevan simply cannot thank you all enough, for the wonderful gift of the donated items and just as important the time spent with us and the help with making the evening run smoothly, making for a fun week out.... They came along to deliver donated tinned food and pantry items and rolled up their sleeves to sort and pack hampers, set up the hall and help greet and serve the Carevan guests for the evening. This awesome little team of representatives from the Worker's Club, sporting T-Shirts which read "Workers" and that's the truth!! They are WONDERFUL worker bees, a huge credit to the club and its community care ethos.. come back soon!! THANK YOU ALL

06.01.2022 An EGGcellent evening 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. ... The girls will be providing freshly laid ‘eggyness’ direct to Norwest’s Carevan cooking program for meal preparation and we are EGGstatic to have them in the hen house We were EGGcited to receive our first batch of eggs, in this lovely venture on Tuesday evening, and to meet with the chook’s custodians; Brenda, Merryn, Piper and Mackenzie on Tuesday evening, along with the ‘spokes-chook’ Callie, a spectacular spotty feathered beauty, who came along in a special carry pack! AND In another first for Carevan, Sophie and Linh, two lovely local hairdressers, offered us their skillset and time to assist any of our guests who wanted to trim their human feathers. This lovely offer was taken up by 6 or so very happy guests, and we are so grateful for the ladies’ generous gift of community care. A big virtual hug to Lorraine Gowan and Daniel Cravero for clothes and goodies to add to the clothing tables and to the lovely Lissa and the Blanket Patrol Western Sydney team And another squeeze to Jocelyn, corralled into Kym’s kitchen coop antics this week for eggcellent meal preparation .. and the good chook out at Hunter Hampers for the boot load of desserts Ruling the roost this week our team lead Andrew and the rest of the evening’s flock; Matthew, Karen, Paul, Ursula, Kym, Katherine, Kimbalee, Kate, Karenza, Cameron and Yvonne and Bruce. We were also joined by local Venturer kids and leaders to help pack hampers and set up it’s a wonderful thing to have this kind of awareness and community love instilled in our chicks too! So very many good eggs in the community, who reach out each and every week, to help Carevan and those we serve in some way. We thank you ALL for the thought, hard work, innovation, kindness and generosity of spirit and deed... you ALL help us keep Carevan sunny side up

05.01.2022 We were very busy last night feeding our friends at Lalor Park. Everyone was more comfortable last night in our new home enjoying their meals and socialising (while practicing social distancing protocols). Unfortunately we were missing a couple of important people last night which was Donna from Hunters Hampers & our own CEO Andrew Scott. We hope Andrew is feeling better soon & hope to see Donna back on board next week. A huge thank you to Foodbank for supplying all the fruit..., bread and veggies, to Tyndale Christian School and Elise for the main meals, our very own Kimbalee and Kym for the gallons of Pumpkin Soup as well as Bread + Butter Puddings. Another thank you for the ongoing support of food donations from Jocelyn, clothes and shoes from Tracey and the beautiful hand knitted, crotchet scarves, beanies & blankets from Yvonne. Last but not least a huge thank you to our team of volunteers last night. See more

02.01.2022 Carevan Blacktown are super 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, an...d 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

02.01.2022 We cannot thank Blacktown Council enough for supporting us with our new home that kept us all warm and dry last last. We would also like to thank Roshni and the Blacktown Sai Center for the noodles, pantry goods, hygiene products and warm beanies and socks. Thank you also to Jan Clarke and Denise for the knitted scarves and blankets which our friends were very appreciative of. A huge thank you for the ongoing amazing support of Donna & team from Hunters Hampers & for our own wonderful team of volunteers last night!!

01.01.2022 Thank you to all those who serve and those, most especially, who are quietly working behind the scenes to help Carevan serve the community on your behalf. THANKS this week to Bianca the kitchen starlett, Anne Maree and her knitting troup, Foodbank folk, the marvellous Roshni and gang, Norwest kids and to Donna and the Hunter Hampers crew and of course to our regular cookery queens Kym and Kimbalee Big shout out to Garry and his wife for the sheets and kitchenware and to... Daniel, our fab volunteer, who has rounded up members of his neighbourhood and beyond, to donate lots of goodies each week Thanks to our partners in crime, Lisa and the Blanket Patrol Western Sydney family and to our wonderful volunteers for the week Matthew, Tracey, Karen, Paul, Annie, Cameron, Karenza, KimBAlee, Kym and team lead Andrew. Carevan served up 55 meals and lots more besides, and we love you all for making this possible Carevan puts faces to the service of a generous community, that reaches out to serve and help care for its people every single week and we are so very grateful ....And a very special squeeze to Shatki our Norwest kitchen Goddess... luck and love to you lovely lady and family and look forward to your return