FLOWERS adorn each table and quiet jazz sets an upbeat mood.
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It’s The Carevan Foundation’s dinner service at St Matthew’s Church in Albury on a Tuesday night.
As the weather warms up in spring, people enjoy their meals outside in the church gardens.
From its trademark colourful van offering meals to the homeless and socially isolated on the Border nine years ago, Carevan has evolved to four permanent sites now.
Albury orthodontist John Brabant (OAM) founded the organisation in 2009 when an article in The Border Mail – It’s Easier to Turn Away Than Care – sparked an idea.
Carevan has since branched out to Griffith, Armidale, Wangaratta and Blacktown and will roll out to Wagga in the new year.
Carevan chief executive Stacey Franklin says demand for meals has soared in almost a decade of operation in Albury-Wodonga.
Ms Franklin says Carevan volunteers make 400 to 500 meals a week – though some go to other Border emergency agencies – up from 250 a near decade ago.
“Our cities are growing; people are disembarking from Albury railway station looking to make a fresh start and it doesn’t always work out for them,” she says.
“They might have mental health issues, or problems with drugs and alcohol.”
Ms Franklin says people could become homeless through a simple change in economic, social or medical status.
“It can take just one thing,” she says.
“It could be loss of employment, a disability affecting someone’s life or mental health issues.”
Ms Franklin says Carevan offers much more than a meal; it’s social inclusion.
She says it provides meals for people who are socially isolated, aged pensioners struggling financially or who have lost a partner, the unemployed or those with a disability.
“It’s about getting people back around a dining table,” she said.
Carevan operates from 6.15pm at St Mark’s Church, North Albury, on Monday; St Matthew’s Church, Albury, on Tuesday; Westside Community Centre, West Albury, on Wednesday; and Wodonga Baptist Church on Thursday.
It is also seeking a coordinator for its successful Midnight Basketball program at PCYC in East Albury.