PROJECTS - PAST, CURRENT and FUTURE

  THE AVALON DROP-IN

A DAY WITH AVALON - Tuesdays 9am to 4pm

A Day With Avalon is a weekly programme which began January 2009.  It is a day when everyone is welcome to come along to participate in whatever surprises (adventures and escapades) are planned. A Day With Avalon provides an opportunity for participants to experience a wide range of recreational, educational, social and therapeutic activities.

Activities planned include excursions in the Avalon bus, social events (BBQs and picnics), and opportunities to learn new crafts and skills. 

Everyone is welcome to join us in our adventures.  There is a variety of people attending, including those with disabilities, carers, volunteers and friends; you are welcome to join us in our new venture - as either a participant or a volunteer.

The costs of A Day At Avalon will be by a suggested donation on the day.   Please let us know in advance if you would like to join in as places are

limited.

For more details of the coming week's programme please call us on 9569-2240.

THE HOMELESS PROJECT - Sundays and sometimes mid week

The Avalon Bus goes out every week with a group of committed vounteers and packed with clothes, bedding, shoes, socks and hats to the streets of Melbourne.  We meet up with other organisations that are offering food and books.  Our aim is to meet the people on the streets, develop a relationship with them and find out what their real needs are.  We are then able to see what we can offer them for support.

If you are interested in joining our team please get in touch.  Spaces are limited as we need the room for our tubs of clothes, shoes and bedding.

  We are always in need of goods (as well as money, of course!) – the need is very great.  The greatest needs are for:               

o    Bedding, esp warm blankets, sleeping bags, thin foam (camping) mattresses or yoga mats   

o       Clothing – mainly medium and large sizes and preferably mens, (jackets are in great demand)

   o       Socks and beanies – items always needed

   o    Shoes – again we need larger, mens’ sizes,

If you can help in any way, or know of anyone in real need, please contact us.  We can collect any donated goods, or  they can be left on our front porch at:

        1936 Malvern Rd

        East Malvern 3145.

• A portable air conditioner for a pensioner suffering with leukamia;

• An electric wheel chair (donated to us) to a recent amputee;

• Rent assistance for the homeless;

• Furniture (donated to us) to people who have suffered from the financial crisis;

• Food, clothing and bedding are on going to anyone who is finding life hard and not able to make ends meet.

FUTURE 

Coming soon!

SATURDAY GETAWAY

Avalon will be introducing a day trip in the Avalon Bus on Saturdays in the near future.  Stand by for further information!

AVALON AND THE AFTERMATH OF THE BUSHFIRES

Avalon has focussed much of its efforts since ‘Black Saturday’ in providing help to communities affected by the fires.  Whilst cash also was donated, most of our efforts in the week following the fires took the form of providing goods, as we transported donated and purchased clothing, bedding and other essential items to Relief Centres (such as Eltham and Diamond Creek) which were servicing Kinglake and adjacent affected areas.

By the second week we registered (as an organisation and a score of individuals) and obtained a road-block pass, an essential step, as the fire-affected areas were still closed to the public.    We were thus able to take goods, and later, volunteers - to sort and distribute donated goods - directly to Kinglake and other relief centres.

Driving along the road to Kinglake for the first time was a sobering experience, as we saw for ourselves some of the thousands of burnt-out hectares of bush- and farm-land.  There was a shocked silence on the bus as we gazed at the devastation; for mile after mile, no colour was seen, just black tree trunks and a carpet of grey ash.  The intense heat in the area south of Kinglake had even destroyed the road itself in places, although it had been roughly repaired and reopened in less than two weeks.  The speed limit of 40kph was, if anything, ambitious, and we slowed to a quarter of that as we passed sections where the road had crumbled into the gullies, leaving a single narrow lane, barely wide enough for the bus.

All of the relief centres we worked in were being set up to look much like a big retail chain store, with clearly defined areas for food, clothing, etc (the locals & volunteers referring to the food section as ‘the supermarket’, hardware as ‘Bunnings’ etc).  So all volunteers had to learn to make quick – often arbitrary - decisions on what section and sub-section an item would be stored, whether it was new or used or ‘rubbish’, and - in the case of clothing - size and sex, all in an area a quarter the size needed.

The generosity of Australians has been spoken of in the media, but it is only when we saw see the goods rolling in, and had to unpack, sort, box and stack them that we truly appreciated the extent to which people (and companies large and small) had opened their wallets and their hearts.  Much thought, also, had gone into so much of what was given.  The rule of thumb we used was, ‘Would you wear/eat/use that

yourself?’  Certainly there were boxes and bags filled just with unwanted junk, (for which purpose every centre had its own rubbish skip), but probably 95% of what poured in was new or at least in excellent condition.

It was touching – but not uncommon – to open a box mailed to the Centre, with a note taped to the top saying something like, ‘Given with love from the McDonald family of Newcastle’.

In the weeks following that trip, we made others to Kinglake and surrounding areas, whenever we were told of a need (goods or labour) that the larger agencies and departments are not meeting.  With nil red tape and no interference from officialdom, Avalon was able to react (to those needs within our budget), within days, if not hours of hearing about the problem.  For example, although a number of caravans had been provided to families who had lost homes, as power was connected to each block the residents were unable to power their caravans without the necessary 15-amp lead, unobtainable in the area.  We found a caravan fittings centre in Dandenong, acquired all the leads they stocked and took them to Kinglake.

  When no-one on the committee was able to travel there other Avalon members and volunteers provided much needed hands, and transport, to move bus- and trailer-load between centres.  (Our special thanks go to Sam, Dave, Luke, and their mates, all young, fit men, fresh from school – the last people you would expect to volunteer on a regular basis.  On arriving someone would call out, ‘The boys from Avalon are here!’.)