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10/27/08
Pride of Australia medal
Pastor John and Diane have recently been awarded a Pride of Australia medal to honour their efforts in helping the needy
Pastor John and Diane have recently been awarded a Pride of Australia medal to honour their efforts in helping the needy.
Four times a week Pastor John and Diane Dowell, from Carindale, feed up to 200 people from the back of a van in a Spring Hill car park. In that car park, the provide three evening meals and a Sunday lunch from their street kitchen. The desire to care for those in need prompted Pastor John and Diane to set up charitable foundation Mama Rene's eight years ago.
The foundation's aim is to provide care to those in need, through practical means such as food, clothing, blankets and other necessities.
Pastor John has seen many different ways of providing for the needy, but he believes respect for the individual is the cornerstone to building loving relationships with people from every walk of life. "It's just about compassion and love for people," Mr Dowell said about the reason for what they do. "We wanted those people to have what we'd want our own kids to have - they're not our clients, they're our family."
In the early days, Pastor John and Diane funded the meals solely from his Disability Support Pension, but today Mama Rene's is a registered charitable foundation, allowing sponsors to make tax-deductible donations to help the husband and wife team continue their work. Not content with just meeting the needy in the street, John and Diane have given over everything they have, even the privacy of their own home, where they provide a caring environment to homeless and disadvantaged people.
It's an extraordinary sacrifice, but one John says he learnt from his mother. "Rene is my mum's name. Shee had 10 kids and some pretty hard times, but she always had room for someone. "We were looking for a name for the charity, and Mama Rene's seemed to be fitting so, this is for you, mum." The Pride of Australia medal honours everyday Australians who do extraordinary things in the communities.
They are the unsung heroes whose contribution to the Australian way of life is not widely known or recognised by the general public.
Four times a week Pastor John and Diane Dowell, from Carindale, feed up to 200 people from the back of a van in a Spring Hill car park. In that car park, the provide three evening meals and a Sunday lunch from their street kitchen. The desire to care for those in need prompted Pastor John and Diane to set up charitable foundation Mama Rene's eight years ago.
The foundation's aim is to provide care to those in need, through practical means such as food, clothing, blankets and other necessities.
Pastor John has seen many different ways of providing for the needy, but he believes respect for the individual is the cornerstone to building loving relationships with people from every walk of life. "It's just about compassion and love for people," Mr Dowell said about the reason for what they do. "We wanted those people to have what we'd want our own kids to have - they're not our clients, they're our family."
In the early days, Pastor John and Diane funded the meals solely from his Disability Support Pension, but today Mama Rene's is a registered charitable foundation, allowing sponsors to make tax-deductible donations to help the husband and wife team continue their work. Not content with just meeting the needy in the street, John and Diane have given over everything they have, even the privacy of their own home, where they provide a caring environment to homeless and disadvantaged people.
It's an extraordinary sacrifice, but one John says he learnt from his mother. "Rene is my mum's name. Shee had 10 kids and some pretty hard times, but she always had room for someone. "We were looking for a name for the charity, and Mama Rene's seemed to be fitting so, this is for you, mum." The Pride of Australia medal honours everyday Australians who do extraordinary things in the communities.
They are the unsung heroes whose contribution to the Australian way of life is not widely known or recognised by the general public.
