Keven Williams and his barbeque trailer – a match made in heaven
BY LAUREN MARTIN
There are a lot of things Lieutenant Keven Williams loves. First and foremost, he loves God, and his wife, fellow Sydney Eastern Beaches Corps Officer Joanne. But also high up is his Salvation Army barbeque and coffee trailer.
“It’s awesome,” he says of the 3mx2m trailer, which houses a barbeque, a slushie machine (yes – a slushie machine!) and a coffee machine – as well as trestle tables, a big-screen TV and the ability to power lights and other devices.
The trailer, purchased by a previous corps officer a few years ago, makes an appearance at youth, men’s and women’s camps – but the place Keven most likes to take it is into the heart of Maroubra’s most disadvantaged streets – the Hub at Lexington [a public housing estate in the suburb of South Maroubra].
“In 2020, I was praying about an open door to places where we could take the trailer,” he remembers. “And I did some prayer driving in the housing estate areas. I would pray to God – give us an answer as to where you want us to set up the trailer. One of the spaces was Lexington.
“It was probably mid-2021 that the door opened, and Randwick City Council contacted us and said, ‘We want to work with you,’ and I thought, ‘That’s an answer to prayer!’”
Every second Tuesday, after Eastern Beaches Corps finishes its breakfast and chapel service, Keven and a small team of volunteers pack up the trailer and head to ‘Lexo’, as the locals call it.
Million-dollar Eastern Beaches residences line the streets leading into Lexington Place, a small group of shops that marks the start of a sprawling public housing estate in South Maroubra. The Hub at Lexington is a place-based community service hub, a collaboration between government and non-government agencies designed to “address inequity in service access for vulnerable and marginalised community members”.
Keven says the first year or so was all about building trust. “Like any place that has people with addiction and lack of finances and disadvantage, it takes a while to build trust because people don’t trust the system, so why would they trust somebody who is trying to give them free stuff? They’re like, ‘What do you want from me?’ And we don’t want anything; all we want is to bless people and love upon them.
“It has taken a while to build trust and to break down barriers in people’s lives. People are now opening up to us and coming in to see us from those spaces. They are actually coming to the corps [at Maroubra], sitting in on chapel services, and accessing our services and other activities.”
Keven says the barbeque is also a great missional training ground for the Eastern Beaches Salvos volunteers, many of whom come from the very area they serve.
“It’s disciples teaching disciples teaching disciples,” Keven says. “For them to be able to learn how to minister and to love upon community.”
Kel’s life transformation
On the coffee machine, volunteer Kelly-Ann loves to make hot chocolates for any kids who attend and chats joyfully with the adults waiting for their hot drink. Just six months ago, she was at the receiving end of assistance like that offered at the Hub at Lexington until God turned her life completely around.
“I was living on the streets for 14 months,” she says. “My alcohol and my drug intake was over the top. I was drinking up to five litres of alcohol a day just to subside all the pain and the emotional turmoil that I was going through with family and stuff like that.”
When she turned 50 and had a health scare, she began to reconsider her lifestyle. “It was time for me to stop drinking; it was time for me to help myself before I could help my family.
“Now, six months on, I’m working and volunteering for The Salvation Army. I’m sober. My life is full of God. I love my life!”
Rod’s new lease of life
Her sentiments are echoed by fellow volunteer Rod, who says calling into Eastern Beaches Salvos to access the free lunch service halted his plan to head to a clifftop in Coogee and take his own life. At the lunch, he met Keven and chatted with him for a long time, then returned that evening to watch the State of Origin football game with the corps men’s group.
“It was one of the best nights I’ve ever had,” he says. “It was the first time I’ve sat there, eating lollies, drinking soft drink, watching State of Origin. And just sitting there with other people that weren’t drinking either – and we were all just having a good time! I was like, ‘Oh wow!’”
Rod began to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and spend his free time at The Salvation Army. Now, he’s a Senior Soldier and is full of joy and energy as he banters with Keven and cooks the sausages for the free lunch at the Hub at Lexington.
“I’m loving life now!”
And that’s the kind of transformation that Keven and the team are praying others will experience as they serve sausages and coffee with a smile and a listening ear at the Hub at Lexington.
