Already a successful program in Albury-Wodonga Carevan’s CEO Stacey Franklin, said the foundation is currently determining whether there is a real need in the Wagga community. 

“There’s always people within a community that feel isolated and being in regional Australia, it’s even more significant,” she said.

“We will just work with local community groups to make sure that we’re not overlapping with other service organisations and to really form partnerships.” ​

On Monday night, July 16, the Carevan Foundation met with Wagga’s local community service organisations and members of the community to work out the need.

The foundation has a few programs, including a meal to members of the community; an oral health primary schools program and also a school-lunch initiative.

The food meal service is a sit down meal for any member of the community and is run primarily through volunteers, predominantly school children in Albury-Wodonga, cooking the food as part of community service. 

The food is then served by other volunteers who also sit down with a meal and members of the community to have a conversation. 

The second program is Sun Smiles, an oral health program supported by university students and the Carevan founder, John Brabant. 

The team visits local primary schools and does a health check assessment and flouride treatments for every primary school student. 

Ms Franklin said any further dental work that needs to be done is funded through the university. 

“It focuses on their nutrition, their oral health and just supporting themselves through the years and teaching them that they’ve got to look after their teeth,” she said. 

The third program the Carevan provides is School Lunch Crisis, which was created when the team identified in the Albury-Wodonga community that primary school students were coming to school without their lunch. 

This is “youth supporting youth” and predominantly served from VCAL secondary students who are preparing the school lunches. 

“It’s as simple as a Vegemite or jam sandwich, an orange cut into quarters and a homemade banana bread that complies with the health regulations,” Ms Franklin said. 

“They are then labelled and delivered to local primary schools that we are in partnership with and every child is getting a school lunch. 

“Last year we did an excess of 4300 school lunches for school aged children.” 

The Carevan Foundation was founded in 2009 by Dr Brabant, a local orthodontist, after reading an article about how it is easier to turn away than care for those disadvantaged and homeless in the community.

Ms Franklin said there was a real need in the Albury-Wodonga region as people were lacking a sense of belonging, inclusion and food security. 

The Carevan in Albury-Wodonga has “evolved” and now runs in Griffith, Armidale, Blacktown and Wangaratta.  

While the foundation hasn’t set up in Wagga yet, Ms Franklin said the foundation is “never short” of volunteers and encouraged people to help those in need. 

“There’s a couple of requirements to become a volunteer, you need to be 18-years-old, have a working with children, a police check and also a food safety certificate. 

“We also invest in our volunteers, we do training with NSW health, through training in mental health and first aid. 

“In Albury-Wodonga we have over 300 volunteers and it’s not a huge commitment; I think that’s what people love, they are able to give back just once a month.” 

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