UCA SA - Australia Day Award - Le Fevre Uniting Church

Australia Day Award - Le Fevre Uniting Church

By Stephen Bray

Posted Feb 8, 2022 in News

At the recent City of Port Adelaide Australia Day awards, the Le Fevre Uniting Church Taperoo received an Australia Day Award in recognition of Service to the Community. The award recognises the extraordinary support that the Church is providing to local community members through its two related community ventures: UnitingCare Taperoo and Lefevre Connections.

UnitingCare Taperoo operates an Emergency Relief Centre where people in need can access:

Pre-prepared frozen meals cooked on-site by volunteers

Fruit, vegetables, bakery items and non-perishable food items sourced from the SecondBite Community Connect program, Oz Harvest and Foodbank

Clothing and blankets from the Community Op Shop.

The Emergency Relief Centre was established in 2020 to provide frozen meals cooked by volunteers in the Church kitchen to elderly residents affected by the COVID pandemic. However, as time went on and word got out, the service grew to include the unemployed, single parents, families, homeless, recent prison inmates, international students and people being cared for under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

In 2021 UnitingCare Taperoo provided assistance to 4,500 people. The assistance included 6,737 meals and 10,964 kg of fruit, vegetables and bakery items.

Lefevre Connections is a community hub that strengthens and builds the local community by providing a place for adults to meet for a coffee and chat while their children play on the playground, access library resources, buy clothing from the op shop, or meet with a Justice of the Peace.

Further support was provided to the community in 2021 through a family expo conducted in conjunction with other local community groups and the City of Port Adelaide Enfield. Also through holding events to raise funds for the Emergency Relief Centre (e.g. pancake day), the Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea and UnitingSA through the Winter and Christmas appeals.

(Congratulations and thanks are extended to all volunteers.)