Our people.

Hugh Vardon

Business Development Manager
Food Delivery Manager

As our Business Development Manager Hugh develops mutually beneficial relationships within the local community to help us have maximum impact. As our Food Delivery Manager he works to maximise the use of our community kitchen and drop-in space.

Hugh is an experienced businessman, whose entrepreneurship gene exposed itself at the age of 14 when he began raising chickens for meat and selling them to restaurants in his childhood neighbourhood.

Hugh has been self-employed in Australia since 2009, predominantly in hospitality, and has been a small business owner in the region since 2016. You might remember him from Hughie's Cafe and Grill. He lives locally, with his kids having attended school here.

Hugh also has extensive knowledge of our operation after serving on the Board of The Kindness Collective Kyneton for several years.
Lisa Jackson

Foodbank Co-Ordinator
Lisa has a passion for people and facilitating change in people’s lives. We’re blessed to have had Lisa with us for six years. Lisa started at Kyneton Caring Community as part of the Work for the dole program. She was so inspired she came on board as a volunteer for several years and is now a much-valued employee.
She is born and bred in Kyneton, enjoys spending time with her teenage son and photography.
Skills and Qualifications
• Assistant Manager of Go-Lo Kyneton
• Covid Safety Officer
• Certificate 3 in Work Health and Safety (BSB30712)
• Certificate of accreditation Youth Mental Health First Aid
• First Aid and CPR
Jenny Leon

Bookkeeper
Jenny is the Bookkeeper for The Kindness Collective and other local businesses and community organisations. She is driven to contribute with her skills to an organisation with a strong community purpose.
Jenny lives on a working farm outside a main region along with her husband Karl, where they are raising their small boy.
Jenny grew up in Mexico and has been calling Australia home for the past thirteen years. She enjoys gardening, painting and outdoor activities.

Team of volunteers

The Kindess Collective only operates due to the significant involvement of its team of volunteers for whose support we are very grateful. Our volunteers come from all walks of life and personal circumstances and we are constantly amazed at the generosity of the people within our community. Some of the roles our volunteers assist with include:

manning our free foodbank facility and assisting our foodbank clients with their needs
sorting and stocking our foodbank shelves, fridges and freezers
picking up donated food from various sources, locally and in Melbourne and Bendigo
helping to sort and price the donated goods for the op shop
helping out in the op shop, serving customers and visual merchandising
picking up donated goods for the op shop
helping maintain and upgrade the "TKC headquarters" building, to allow us to provide more support to our community
offering our foodbank clients a shoulder to lean on or simply someone to talk to, in our drop in centre
helping with our fundraising activities, including writing grant applications for government and philanthropic grant programs
providing professional expertise in counselling and social work related skills, to enable us to refer our clients with needs beyond just a shortage of food, to other local agencies who can provide the help they need