Trevor Litzow and Daphne Litzow have a close affinity with Carinity Karinya Place. The brother and sister-in-law were heavily involved in getting the Laidley aged care community built more than 50 years ago.
An initiative of Laidley Baptist Church envisioned by Reverend Douglas Dunlop in 1963, Karinya Place was built five years later at a cost of $83,000. Fundraising efforts by members of the local Baptist community raised just under one-third of the money required to construct the building.
Trevor, who was on an early committee which oversaw the running of Karinya Place, said, "A lot of money was raised through the community". In fact, more than $26,000 for the project was raised from various fundraising initiatives organised by church members over four years.
Volunteers sought donations while doing door knocks around the streets and farms of Laidley, Gatton, Helidon, Rosewood, Esk, Toogoolawah and Kilcoy. Daphne tirelessly raised money for the cause, travelling hundreds of kilometres on the fundraising trail.
"We did an awful lot. Every month we had stalls, we did lamington drives and we did lolly drives. Everything you can think of to raise the money, we did it," Daphne said.
"We had garden parties at the site and at one garden party we raised thousands of pounds, which we thought was great. Everybody was into it and all of us helped. Even people who lived outside our community who knew us would come and help.
"We had two old Victa lawnmowers that somebody gave us. There was grass as high as we were, and we started mowing down this grass. The mower caught on fire in the grass, and we just about got burnt."
Trevor recalls other fundraising activities such as group bicycle rides and walk-a-thons, including one which went from Laidley to the top of the Toowoomba range.
Church members who were farmers, like the Litzows who grew vegetables on their farms in Mulgowrie, donated crops to be sold for the fundraising appeal.
"The farmers here donated their crops to sell, and people used to come from Brisbane to buy them," Daphne said.
Trevor said a number of D.I.Y. tradespeople assisted with the construction of the aged care building.
He recalls a local truck driver would take their harvest of beetroot to the Golden Circle cannery in Brisbane for processing. Instead of returning home empty-handed they would collect and bring home a semi-trailer load of free bricks and other building materials.
Trevor and Daphne paid tribute to Reverend Dunlop, who drove to Canberra to lobby the Australian Government for funding for Karinya Place. He successfully secured 60 per cent of the project's budget through taxpayer dollars.
"The Minister was a very good man. He used to live on faith, hope and charity. He was very much for building an aged care home and thought there was room in Laidley for one, and that's how it started," Daphne said.
Trevor and Daphne both moved into Carinity Karinya Place earlier this year. Daphne lives in the Herb Mutzelburg Wing, built in 1994 and named after a local farmer and Litzow family friend. She is proud of having helped get her new home established.
"I'm glad all our hard work paid off. I know a lot of people who have passed through here already. It was well worth it because now I'm in here having them look after me … or there wouldn't be a place for me," she said.
