Southern Family Fun Day – Biggest and best yet!
A record number of families slapped on the sunscreen for CareSouth’s annual Southern Family Fun Day at Jamberoo in February. Nearly 300 carers, children and young people showed up for the action-packed event, the biggest turn-out since the fun day began more than five years ago.
Distance was no deterrent on what was a scorching summer’s day, with families travelling from as far away as Batemans Bay, Bega, and Goulburn, along with the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions.
As well as a day of fun in the sun, the aim of Jamberoo since its inception has been to connect children, young people, carers and caseworkers from across the Southern region and create lasting memories for all involved.
This was evident at the event when a young girl who had travelled from Batemans Bay with her carers was able to reconnect with a child she had previously shared a placement with. There were tears all around when the girls saw each other, and both girls’ carers have agreed to meet regularly to maintain the relationship they have built.
Another heart-warming story from the day involved Illawarra foster carers who recently facilitated a successful restoration with a young girl and her mum. The two families ran into each other at Jamberoo, and the group had a fantastic day together.
Moments like these reinforce the purpose and importance of events like this, said CareSouth’s Events Officer Natalie Nicastri.
“Despite the amount of hard work behind the scenes to plan and execute the fun day, it was worth every moment just to see all the smiling faces and hear the wonderful stories at Jamberoo,” said Natalie.
CareSouth could only host this event with our staff and volunteers who helped out on the day. One Illawarra carer recruitment caseworker dished up hundreds of serves of salad one-handed due to a broken wrist. Not to mention Sean Shepley, from our partner organisation Objective, and Aunties & Uncles volunteer Peter Wright cooked almost 500 sausages to feed the hungry hordes.
Watch this space for our next family fun day event.
