On a particularly chilly evening earlier this month, Christine Calnin let her dogs out into the backyard and was immediately struck by the thought of the community’s homeless.
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The Wodonga woman has now started an online campaign to fill a ute tray with canned goods to donate to organisations supporting those in need on the Border.
“It was absolutely freezing and I just couldn’t imagine having to be outside – how would you keep warm and where would you go?” she said.
“Everybody is a step away from it I believe, because you just don’t know what’s around the corner.”
Ms Calnin said over the last few weeks, complete strangers had come and gone at her home with donations.
“I’ve met some really kind people,” she said.
“A lot of them have said to me, ‘we don’t have a lot ourselves but we want to help’.
“Some people had been on the street and now had turned their lives around and even wanted to give five or six cans, just wanting to help.”
Ms Calnin said she collected over 100 cans but needed 700 to fill a tray for Carevan and people in need.
“If people look through their cupboards and realise they might have four cans of tomatoes, if one could be spared, each one does make a difference,” she said.
Carevan project officer Stacey Franklin said a small collection of canned goods were kept at the van for an emergency supply, with warm clothes a priority during winter.
“Basically it’s warm blankets and scarves, things that keep people warm, those sorts of things,” she said.
“Albury-Wodonga have really come to town, they’ve been donating heavily to us, which has been fantastic.”
Mrs Franklin said cash donations to the Carevan website, www.carevan.com.au, were always appreciated to help the organisation with varying needs.
“When schools are cooking, we use 50 to 70 kilograms a week of meat so the money will contribute to that sort of thing,” she said.
“We just ask people spare a thought for those in the community doing it tough … pensioners who have to decide whether they can pay their electricity bills.
“Open your eyes and hearts and realise there are people out there struggling, and it often isn’t brought on themselves.”
To support Ms Calnin’s cause, got to www.facebook.com/The-Can-Collection-292398791110463.
