Connect You Too News

On Friday 23^rd May 2025, Connect You Too’s staff, board members, volunteer drivers and meals volunteers came together at Club Iluka for a special Volunteers Week morning tea.

Connect You Too is lucky enough to have 47 volunteers to provide community transport and delivery of meals to people in our community. Our volunteers include twenty-one drivers for our transport services, seven board members and nineteen volunteers with meal delivery services. They have volunteered for Connect You Too for a combined total of 283 years, with one volunteer clocking up a staggering 29 years’ service before their recent retirement.

‘Connect You Too appreciates all the community volunteering of the team who help throughout the year. We could not help our customers without their dedication and service’, said Ray Chesher, Chairperson of CU2 Board.

Each Connect You Too volunteer received a National Volunteer Week Appreciation Certificate, whilst a few special ‘Recognise and Reward’ awards for special recognition.

“Our new ‘Recognise and Reward’ program was brought to fruition by our board member, Garry Payne. He wanted to introduce a system to show appreciation towards our valuable volunteers and their contribution to the Clarence Valley community”, Ray explained.

Connect You Too would like to thank Access Fuels, Bowlo Sports & Leisure Yamba, Harwood Hotel, Coles Yamba and Lawrence Tavern for sponsoring these awards.

Their generosity allows us to give thanks to our volunteers for their own generosity. The ‘Recognise and Reward’ awards with vouchers from our sponsors were presented to:

• Ray Hoad - 10 years of dedicated service to volunteer driving and for compliments from customers – Coles Yamba voucher

• John Nolan – Longest serving meals volunteer – Harwood Hilton voucher

• Greg Starr – Longest serving transport volunteer – Yamba Bowlo voucher

• Debbie Thwaites – 5 years of service for Clarence Meals – Lawrence Tavern voucher

• Leonie Lancaster – 5 years of service for Clarence Meals – Harwood Hilton voucher

• Peter Jarman – Senior volunteer transport – Access Fuels voucher

• Tony Crupi – Youngest volunteer transport and for compliments from customers – Lawrence Tavern voucher

• Dale Mackie – Senior volunteer meals -Harwood Hilton voucher

• Jenny Gillies – Youngest volunteer meals – Yamba Bowlo voucher

• Paul Bailey – For compliments from customers – Lawrence Tavern voucher

• Darryl Brotherson – For compliments from customers – Coles Yamba voucher

• Gren Little – For compliments from customers – Harwood Hilton voucher

• David Anderson – For compliments from customers – Coles Yamba voucher

Thankyou speeches were relayed from Kevin Hogan and Richie Williamson on the achievements of our volunteers.

Our services are getting busier and if you have a bit of time and want to remain active in your community, call Connect You Too on 6645 3200 for an application form and see how rewarding a volunteer role with us can be. We would love to hear from people based throughout the Clarence Valley but especially from Grafton where the demand for transport is high. 

First Nations Elders and representatives joined with community on Tuesday 3^rd June at Connect You Too in Townsend, Yaegl Country, for a special National Reconciliation week morning tea.

The National Reconciliation Week NRW 2025 theme, Bridging Now to Next, reflects the ongoing connection between past, present and future.

Bridging Now to Next calls on all Australians to step forward together, to look ahead and continue the push forward as past lessons guide us.

Organised by Dorothy Pholi, Connect You Too’s Aboriginal Liaison Officer and Kerry Little, Connect You Too’s General Manager, along with community and staff from Connect You Too, used this special morning tea as an opportunity to launch their Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).

The morning tea began with a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony by Shane Eamens, followed by passionate and moving speeches from Elizabeth Smith, Glenda McPhail, Helen Brown and Avery Brown.

“Our RAP will guide us on the reconciliation journey both in our own organisation and as part of our Clarence Valley community,” Kerry Little said.

“Our vision is to always strive for quality services that connect our communities. Our Reflect RAP will provide the opportunity to look within our service and to understand our starting point on our Reconciliation journey which will help to progress our connections with communities.”

“We seek to grow our understanding of what an inclusive community services sector looks like, for both transport and meals provision to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities,” Kerry said.

Connect You Too offers meal and transport services, including social bus trips. If you need assistance, please call and speak with one of our friendly Customer Care Officers on 6645 3200.

During the month of May, Connect You Too got to play Santa and deliver some special hampers to their Clarence Meals customers.

These special hampers were funded by Lions Clubs International Foundation Disaster Recovery with a grant of $23,800. 

The hampers were donated to some school families, fishermen from the Co-Op, community members without housing, others identified by the Salvation Army Resilience Team and some of our seniors in the Clarence Valley community following Cyclone Alfred. A total of 757 hampers were delivered across the Clarence Valley.

Deyann McDonnell, from Lions Yamba, was the co-ordinator of the project and asked Kerry Little of Connect You Too, if she could help identify the seniors in our community who would most benefit from the hampers. Kerry suggested the Connect You Too ‘Clarence Meals’ customers may like to receive a Lions hamper, and Lions were most appreciative of the offer for delivery via Connect You Too volunteers.

The $50 hampers were sourced from IGA who packed and delivered the boxes to the Townsend depot of Connect You Too, where they were stored prior to delivery. They contained a range of groceries, toiletries and even some sweet treats.

Deyann personally visited some of the recipients and witnessed the joy of receiving such a useful gift. “I am grateful for the support and assistance of all involved in this Lions service project,” she stated.

Connect You Too offers meal and transport services, including social bus outings each month. If you need assistance, please call and talk with one of our friendly Customer Care Officers on 6645 3200.