Mum and Dad cooked some food last night, including curries, dhal, soup and rice. When we got to the centre we went up to the kitchen and started heating, preparing the food and setting the tables. I was a bit nervous and didn’t know what to expect. When people started arriving, everyone was really friendly. I talked to some of them, about their families and other aspects of their life.

All of the people that were there enjoyed our food and ate it all.  Everyone thanked us. I really enjoyed the friendly smiles and hope to do it again.”

To stay in touch with other volunteering opportunities like these, ‘Like’ us on Facebook and join our mailing list by dropping us an email to ruth@kidsgivingback.org.

“Thanks to Kids Giving Back for introducing our family to Jewish Care’s Disability Services programme.

Yesterday we took our 9 year old twins to a share-house in Mascot, where a group of people with intellectual disability live and are supported by Jewish Care volunteers.

This was particularly meaningful for me as I sit on the Board of the Australian Network on Disability. Whilst I have insight into the issues and complexity for people with a disability at an industry level, it’s important to take this insight to a personal level.

We took part in a Sunday BBQ and brought along some food and dessert. Our family was introduced to the housemates and, with minimal fuss, the ice broke rather quickly. It was great to see how easily my kids made a connection with our hosts and responded to their open and frank communication style. I was so proud of how respectful and humble my daughters were.

The highlight was a piano recital, where one of the housemates and my twins took turns to play different pieces of music.

I would totally recommend this experience to any family with young children. We need to understand the diversity that exists within our community, and embrace people with disabilities so that we become – as we say at the AND – a ‘disability confident’ society. “

Here is the letter we received from Eli and Sam -

Carole & Ruth

Thank you for inviting us and organising the father and son “Cook for Good” event.

Sam and I felt extremely privileged to be part of it, share it with the other dads and their sons and to have the benefit of meeting inspiring people like Dan Haesler and Pat Farmer.

It felt great to be actively involved in something that positively impacted another person’s life.

What made it more special was that Sam and I worked together in the kitchen preparing food with all the other dads and sons and then had the privilege of seeing the benefits when we delivered the meals to the recipients.

The welcome, appreciation and smiles from the recipients were almost overwhelming. What we did was such a small thing that obviously had an impact on the day of the elderly gentleman and the 91 year old lady that we met today.

Sam was particularly moved by the 91 year old lady. In the brief time we had together, in broken Yiddish and English we managed to find out so much about her life and she about ours. Her effervescence was inspiring especially against the backdrop of her meagre and difficult living conditions. We couldn’t begin to imagine the life she came from as she continually praised Australia as a country. It was inspiring to meet someone who had so little and is obviously doing it tough, but seems so positive and full of life. That certainly gave Sam and I a lot to reflect on, as well as perspective on our own lives.

Dan Haesler’s talk was certainly enlightening and I think Sam and I both learned a lot about things that often remain unsaid in father and son relationships. The poem Dan read at the end was a tough one and very moving. I couldn’t believe that it left Sam and I thinking about exactly the same thing … my late father!

It’s amazing how well-chosen and well delivered words can have such power.

We both learned many valuable lessons today and aside from us understanding how much real need is out there and how much work there is to do, we also thought about and were in awe of, the many great people behind the charitable organisations that quietly do so much good by their own actions.

Charity has taken on a new meaning for us and will no longer be seen as a glossy brochure and pledge card or a dinner function with entertaining speakers.

It must have been a lot of work for both of you to put this together and we can see the amount of thought that you put into it (down to the minutia of making sure our deliveries were in the vicinity of our home).

Thank you again and a huge congratulations and well done.

Eli & Sam

To find out more, check out the flyer -Cook For Good flyer Father & Son-Side by side

Two SCEGGS students, Simone and Talia, found their experience so amazing that they are now going back to Our Big Kitchen in Bondi to complete their community service requirement.

The story of their volunteering explains why Kids Giving Back creates hands on volunteering programs that bring communities together.

Simone and Talia’s Volunteering Experience

“We were introduced to Our Big Kitchen during our co-curricular week at school when we went to make scones to take to an aged care facility afterwards. It was a great teamwork activity where we got to cook with our friends and hear stories from the volunteers working at Our Big Kitchen. We all agreed that this was already a lot more fun and unique as it was a hands on activity doing something ourselves. The kitchen was well organised and a great environment to be in. Another positive aspect about our experience there was that we got to see the results.

“After being split up into groups ,we took the handmade treats to an aged care facility in Marrickville. No one was sure what to expect, especially seeing as many of us had never experienced something like this before. Once we had handed the food around, we had a chance to sit and talk to the people; each girl had a different experience and different stories afterwards. The opening to most conversations was asking how their day had been which was where we were surprised and happy with their answers; many of them saying “Good now that you are here” and “I’m so happy you came”.

We talked to a man who had once been a teacher at a girls high school and a lady who told us about her most recent outing to Bobbin Head. She had a great sense of humor telling us how she asked the tour guy “Why do they call it bobbing head if I can’t see any bobbing heads in the harbour?”

The people were just so happy to have new faces to see and talk to and you could see the joy in their faces. We never thought that doing something like this could make people so happy. Overall, it was an extremely rewarding experience and one we will never forget. It meant a lot for us to experience this as we realised how much we could give to people from ourselves, not in donations and fundraisers, but on a personal level.”