Toasties, chats and milo around John Paul College’s Companion Van

Every Thursday evening in central Frankston, a small van pulls up and, within minutes, an empty carpark becomes a hub of warmth and connection. The John Paul College Companion Food and Outreach Van’s arrival is keenly anticipated for its hot drinks, groceries and, most importantly, conversation.

The Frankston fixture began in 2013, when a group of senior students at John Paul College decided they wanted to help families in need. A staff member supervising the outreach on a recent, wintry Thursday evening explains that ‘it ended up being part of their coursework. They fundraised to purchase the van; they contacted local companies to support it with providing stock, and it’s grown from there.’

It was a massive fundraising effort: $13,000 to buy the van and another $5,000 to stock it before it was launched in 2014. The van has been there every week since, run by a roster of students, parents and even volunteers from other schools.

‘We collect clothes to bring down here, especially coats and beanies, and they always go pretty quickly, especially in this weather,’ the staff member says.

‘We get a lot of donations of food. Baker’s Delight in Frankston gives us their leftover bread and buns and so on.’ She indicates a trestle table laden with bread. ‘If that isn’t all taken today, it doesn’t go to waste. Tomorrow, church groups will take it and use it for social events.’

While the John Paul College student volunteers set up the evening’s offerings and prepare the warm food and drinks, people make their way to the trestle tables and fill bags and trolleys with bread, iced buns, tinned food, and fresh fruit and vegetables.

Men and women begin to crowd around the Companion Food and Outreach Van, and volunteers serve generous cups of milo, tea and coffee. Two of them are on cheese toastie duty, buttering scores of slices of bread to go into the sandwich press that runs non-stop for several hours.

They have their lives and they have their dreams too.

The students are dedicated. Rahul, who joined a few months ago, says he initially wanted to work in the van as a way to ‘dip my toes into volunteering’.

But the experience shifted his perspective: ‘It’s a really revolutionary, life-changing type of experience when you get to be more on the frontlines to kind of see what people who are struggling have to suffer with and face,’ he says. ‘When you live with a roof over your head all the time, you don’t really think about those things as much.’

He has been surprised by the relationships that have formed around the van. ‘People would come up and they would know some of our staff by name ... We’d be continuing conversations from the past as if they’d already built this big relationship.

‘The van’s really important in that sense, because we not only provide food and products; we also provide conversations and social support.’

Mia, another student volunteer, echoes this. She started as part of a school course requirement but kept coming back because of the connections she’d made: ‘It’s just so nice to talk to people that, you know, sometimes might not have a lot of people to talk to. They have their lives and they have their dreams too.’

At its core, the Companion Van is about treating people with respect. As the school wrote in its 10th-anniversary reflection last year, the van has become an integral part of the Frankston community.

‘Its role extends far beyond distributing food and essentials; it reflects our Catholic commitment to social justice. Through our religious education programs, students are empowered to participate in meaningful social justice initiatives.

‘The van not only provides material support but also fosters personal connections among staff, students and the community. These interactions encourage empathy and understanding, helping students appreciate our shared humanity, despite differences.’

The student volunteers are finding that the differences between them and the community are unexpectedly small. Mia says she feels a real connection, having grown up in the Frankston area too. She finds that many of her chats highlight things she has in common.

‘They might be in a certain position now, but sometimes it wasn’t always that way for them. I talk to so many people; they’re like, “Oh, you’re in Year 12,” and they want to talk about when they were in Year 12 and what they did for university and their interests.’

The van’s name—Companion—exemplifies the ultimate purpose of the service. ‘Companion Van really means it’s like a friendship van, you know. You think of companionship with people,’ Mia says.

Rahul adds that the word implies an ongoing relationship. ‘It’s not just that we’re here to give you food and say nothing. The name suggests an ongoing building of companionship. People feel secure knowing they can develop relationships over time.’

That sense of trust is clear in the way people interact and look out for each other. Harumi, who lives in a rooming house with eight others, often collects basics for her household. When offered extra bread rolls, she asks first if anyone else needs them more. ‘With nine people in the house, we do go through a lot of food,’ she says. ‘If it’s left in the kitchen, it goes.’

One man, a war veteran who did not want to be named, said he would check in on older veterans he knew and bring them back food from the van. ‘They can’t always get here themselves,’ he said as he set off on the long walk back to his home, carrying two shopping bags.

‘Rod’, a long time user of the weekly Companion Van service, says he appreciates small logistical changes made over the years, like setting up a table and freeing up the van counter. ‘They used to pile everything on the counter, and those at the front would just take everything,’ he says.

‘Now, they’ve set up the table, and it’s fantastic—as long as you can get on both sides of the table. Sometimes I have to move it out to make room.’

For some volunteers, the van has shaped their futures. Ava, a former John Paul College student now studying nursing, credits the van for her career choice. ‘I love helping people and I love talking to people, so it’s the best of both worlds.’

She still volunteers as often as she can and clearly cherishes the connections she’s made. ‘I was shopping the other day, and one of the guys came up to me and chatted for like 35 minutes. I absolutely loved it. On nights out with friends, I see them all and I’m like, “Oh, I love this.”’

Ava’s biggest reward is the trust people place in her. ‘A lot of women come to talk to me, and I love it so much because they trust me. They talk to me about a lot of different things, and ask for advice. It’s really nice to be someone they can turn to.’

The service is a positive presence in Frankston, giving students a grounding in serving others without judgement, and reminding the community’s more marginalised members that they matter.