Services

We support individuals to attend TAFE. The students study various units such as OHS, Basic Workplace Communication, and importantly learn how to work with time, money and process directions in simple everyday situations. A Carinya Society staff member supports the students in the class room and during break times to ensure that everyone is getting the most out of studying.

Our participants can attend a child care facility to plant, grow and care for a vegetable garden alongside the children at the Centre. This project is a great success for both the participants and the children. Our participants also learn to use the produce and help the children to prepare simple meals such as salads.

Our participants have a wonderful time in our Photography Program. Photos are taken of favorite places and objects, framed and displayed at Carinya. These photographs have been such a success that many have been displayed at our Public Meetings.

We have numerous programs where individuals learn to travel by public transport, on the train, the smart bus, and trams, to various markets and shopping centres and also into the city. This program also teaches individuals how to use Myki Cards. The trips to Federation Square, Victorian Market, and Golf at Albert Park are very popular.

Individuals from Carinya participate in the sports program at RMIT University in Bundoora on a weekly basis. The program provides individuals with the benefits of sport, exercise and a sense of community. The RMIT sports program also provides an opportunity for students to plan, implement and coach sporting activities with individuals.

In conjunction with the Lost Dogs Home, participants visit North Melbourne on a fortnightly basis. Individuals that participate in this program volunteer their time to walk and care for the dogs and cats.

The Catering program is conducted at the Harry Atkinson Centre in Coburg on a weekly basis. The Catering team is responsible for cooking lunch for the members of the Rotary Club of Coburg. This program enables individuals to develop or expand on their current food handling skills. The catering program also assists individuals to expand on current daily living skills as they have to serve the meals as well as clean up afterwards. The individuals that participate in this program are paid for their hard work.

In this program individuals participate in a community kitchen where they are able to have lunch and socialise with members of the wider community. Individuals that participate in this program also develop and expand upon current daily living skills as they assist in cleaning up after lunch.

On various days across the week several individuals are involved in volunteering for Food Bank. They travel to Tullamarine where they are able to help pack, load the van with parcels of food and then deliver the food parcels to the allocated homes. The parcels are delivered to people who are in need. Last year alone, Food Bank provided enough food for over 40 million meals Australia wide.

The bike club is a project that a team of dedicated bike enthusiasts donate their time to restore donated bikes as part of the Bikes for Humanity Program. Once the participants have completed a few bikes they are collected and shipped to Africa so that the recipient has a new mode of transport or can gain employment through the program. Our participants are all very proud of the hard work that goes into repairing each bike. Once they are in working order, the participants will take the bike for a test spin, as a part of their quality assurance.

Carinya Society and Coburg Football Club have been working in partnership for several years now. Once a week a team of participants help out around the ground ensuring that the stadium is neat and clean. They have embarked on major projects such as painting the steps and seating in the stadium so it was ready for the beginning of the season.