Christie Barbecues have gifted Youturn Youth Support an ICON commercial barbecue for shared use at Tewantin, with chef Matt Golinski helping host their first backyard barbecue for a big crowd. Learn more about the donation here.
The crowd gathered were Youturn supporters who had played a part in the facility upgrades in the Earl Street precinct, including an outdoor kitchen, large deck, and outdoor meeting spaces sitting adjacent to the new tiny homes residential area.
Youturn’s homelessness program manager, Haig Deere, explains how these new spaces will be a wonderful asset to enhance community wellbeing.
“Vulnerable people reach out to us for basic needs; food, shelter, bathrooms, showers and laundry – all available from our Tewantin service centre, “For those sleeping rough, feeling isolated and marginalised, these outdoor spaces mean we can now host a community meal or other wellbeing activity to build social connections and pathways to support”, Haig said.
Stakeholders are discussing establishing a permaculture garden and classes to complement the barbecue, engaging youth and community groups from design to harvest within a therapeutic framework.
“It’s that old analogy, where you can give a person food to last one day however teach them to grow and cook food can last them a lifetime”, said Kylie.
“Youturn is extremely thankful to Christie’s as a leading public area barbecue supplier across Australia, for getting involved at the grass-roots level and providing the centrepiece to our outdoor kitchen”, states Engagement & Donor Relations Manager Susan Beaton.
“It is very generous of Christie’s, and I know our service users and collaborating partners are also thrilled with the amenity upgrade and barbecue access”, said Susan.
Following the Christie lead, businesses Landmark products, Page Furniture, and Coolcrete Construction gifted products and HGM Group and Noosa Community Training Centre donated time and talent to install.