Here at The Rubbish Removers we believe in giving back to the community, both locally and worldwide.

Below is a list of charities that we support and believe in!

		Jacob’s Well Jacob’s Well, in Orissa (India), is taking clean water, life-changing education, sustainability initiatives and healthcare programs into remote villages where there is no clean water, no education, sickness, disease, and no hope. Jacob’s Well "Rejoice Children's Home" provides a safe haven, education and hope for children at risk. Lives are empowered by education. Browse their fantastic website  see what ordinary people can do in an extraordinary way!
		Agape Children’s Home Located in Gujarat (India), the Agape Children's Home is helping provide a brighter future for poor and orphaned children. The home provides the basics - shelter,  food, clothing,  education and skills training but more than that it also provides a family to surround and encourage the children as they grow. Have a look at the progress and changes  being made on the Agape Facebook Page
		Loved Again Charity Shop The 'Loved Again Shop' is a quality secondhand shop run by Calvary Family Church, reaching out to our local community in these tough times. They sell clothes, kitchenware, books, DVDs & CDs, toys, bric a brac, jewelery, furniture and more. Funds raised go to support Calvary Family Church's work in the local community and in helping to establishing local businesses for widows and other very marginalised people in India. Follow them on fb Shop Address: The KP Centre, Cnr Roselea & Upper Lyndale Sts. Shailer Park Openning hours: Tues/Wed/Fri from 9.30am to 2.30pm plus Sat from 9.30am to Noon. Our friendly staff of volunteers look forward to assisting you.

We see The Rubbish Removers as an avenue that can help others, both in our local community and abroad. 

Over the years a  special passion has grown for  tribal people in a rural farming area of India. This people group are mainly subsistence farmers and labourers. They live in homes made of woven bamboo coated with a mud-dung nixture. They till their fields with buffalo and plough, growing their own grains, vegetables and pulses, earning income by following the sugar cane cutters around or labouring on the roads. They are warm hearted and laugh easily.

We have supported them with visits which have included workshops on health, germs and handwashing, Tippy Taps, mother care and midwifery workshops,  avenues of micro business etc.  Our aim is to give them tools to improve their life skills and  quality of life.   We have a soft spot for the Agape Childrens Home, an orphanage the local people run. They care for the childrens needs, food, education, health etc. We like to step in and (along with others) help with a few fun  projects.   (A play ground, some fridges,  bunk beds  and for 2013 table tennis tables!) 

 
 Keep a lookout on our facebook page for up to date information. 

Every year we support an initiative by Calvary Family Church to raise funds for Indian tribal widows. Indian widows are  often ostracized from society after the death of their husbands and rarely have an income source.  At Christmas we raise funds to provide a love gift.  Giving saris (2010 & 2011)  chickens (2012 & 2014)  and blankets (2013)  have made an impact on hundreds of women so far. (Google "widows in India" for more information) 

October 2015  - Social Worker for Widows

In October 2015 The Calvary Family Church hosted another Annual Indian Night and The Rubbish Removers again supported this event to bring hope to tribal widows in India. Our night started with the energetic and fun Bollycise Bollywood Dance getting us up and dancing and laughing.  We settled down and practiced henna work on art canvases, enjoyed chai and chilli-chocolate brownies and gave a good effort at haggling at an Indian stall.   The Spice People  set us up with a selection of three incredible chai's to sell  - The People's Chai,    Herbal Chai and the famous  Chilli Choc Chai.   100% of the proceeds were funded into the Widows Project.   This last year the local Indian  churches have started gifting many of the widows (following our example) so we have looked ahead and employed a local Social Worker to start setting up mentoring programs for  both new & old widows. This is the start of bringing a long term change to the widows in this tribal area - both in supporting each other and looking at micro business possibilities as well as advocating for the abandoned and needy. Keep an eye on Our Annual Indian Night FB page for updates !

Oct 2014  Indian Night  - Chooks for Widows 

Again in 2014 The Rubbish Removers proudly supported another Indian Night In Brisbane. It was a fantastic night with an Indian chef showing us how to make some delicious street food before we got a chance do DIY the "chaats" ourselves. With sales of 10 unique Inspirational cards and a whole heap of loving from a lot of people we ended up with a happy $10 000 to purchase chooks for widows in a tribal people group in India.  (Live chooks retail for around $5kg and this year they are giving out 5 chooks per widow) The last lot of chooks given out several years ago has had a significant impact on widows lives. Most  of the women raise chickens and sell them creating an income as well as having an ongoing egg supply.  Outcomes have included the women being able to purchase a variety of food supplies, books for their children, medicines and other things to help both sustain and enhance their lives.  One woman used her income to level some land to plant a crop.  Another woman was delighted to tell that she has had six chicken meals over the last two years!  Widows in tribal India do not take anything for granted and it more than a pleasure to be part of this.  And - best of all, all money donated or used to purchase the cards has been given 100% to this project. 

Dec 2013 Indian NIght  - Blankets for Widows

The Rubbish Removers helped support   "Another Night in India"  We had a Bollywood Fashion Parade, live music, soups & bread, and listened to the journey of a tribal girl in rural India and how her life changed if her husband died. A range of Greeting cards were available and were sold to raise money for blankets to gift widows this Christmas. Each blanket cost $5 (bulk supply price)  - which in rural India in a low income area can be the income from  5 days labour.  

Thanks to the generosity of everybody we  raised $10,000 - enough for 2000 widows to each be given a  beautiful  brand new blanket.   It might not seem to much to us, with our linen cupboards full, but to a widow with nothing it is a very significant and treasured gift for the cold Indian winter.  The first 1000 blankets were given out before Christmas and the second lot of 1000 blankets were given out on the 5th Jan 14 onwards.  Huge THANK YOU as so many gave, small and large amounts - together we made a difference!

Dec 2012   Indian Night - Hens for Widows 

 The Rubbish Removers hosted the event at Re's Recycle Shop. The  " Indian night"  was a  fabulous evening snacking on  delicious Indian samosas and kulfi, cakes and biscuits and  coffee  while  we enjoyed a night of browsing and buying  in a  shed of fantastic recycled  items.  With the proceeds we were able to organise the purchase of laying hens.  Over 350 widows were each given several chooks to use as a source of both food (eggs) and income (selling eggs / chickens)  

LIKE to keep in touch with the Agape Children   fb

March 2013 Two fridges for "The Agape Children's Home"

We hosted a "garage sale"  with recycled items from the skip bins and  raised enough money to purchase two fridge / freezers.  This is the first fridge the orphans have  had and will be a great help with keeping food cool! (especially when the temperatures can reach up to 41degrees C) 

Nov 2012  - A Playground for the "Agape Children's Home"

Instead of sponsoring individual gifts of clothing and sweets at Christmas we funded a playground ! With donations and  funds from the sale of recycled items enough money was raised to put in swings, a slide, seesaw, a merry-go-round and parallel  bars. Watching the children shriek with laughter as they play, sliding, swinging, sending themselves dizzy on the merry-go-round makes it all worthwhile! 

Other Projects

Feb 2013 Hygiene Workshops 

Some of the big and small hygiene workshops we partipated in.  Teaching the essentials - handwashing, how a fly spreads germs, water pollution, food covers can make an impact on the health of a local community.  Statastics show that up to 1500 Indian children die every day from diarrohea  - and most can be prevented by simple hygiene techniques.  Thanks to Arrow Scientific  for their donation of  Glitter bug as a valuable handwashing teaching tool!