Kevron Foster is a Warumungu man (Patta/Tennant Creek) who has been living in Mparntwe/Alice Springs for nearly four years. He is a truly relished member of the community, who brings a smile to everyone’s face he encounters.
Kevron lives with cerebral palsy and has care workers assist him in his day-to-day, but it does not stop him being one of the most active and social people in town. In 2022 he was awarded the Chief Minister’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Volunteer of the Year Award for Central Australia at the Northern Territory Volunteer of the Year Awards. Kev has been volunteering at Food Bank for over a year and helps at Vinnies as well. Aside from his volley work, he has a paid role facilitated by 8CCC as the delivery person for the NT’s music and arts street press ‘Off The Leash’.
We spoke to Kev and his support worker Rachel to get the low down on his delivery role with 8CCC/Off The Leash in Mparntwe and his creative endeavours.
8CCC: It seems the community really appreciate your presence in town. So, what do you do with Off The Leash?
Kev/Rachel: You deliver the papers, don’t you! Yeah, so with help of his support workers he drives around town, and he delivers all the papers. And for Kevron it’s such a wonderful opportunity for him to be included in an amazing role with a great radio station. It’s really about inclusion and opportunity for Kev to be able to engage with the community. For Kevron, he’s Mr Social, Mr Socialite and he radiates when he gets to say hi and wave and say g’day to people. So, any opportunities for that interaction are really important for him and that’s where he really thrives.
How’s the reaction from the community towards Off The Leash and with the delivery job?
Oh, he’s got a bit of a fan club, haven’t you Kev? Everyone knows you; everyone says a big g’day. Sometimes if it’s too hot we might have to leave him in the car briefly and people get pretty disappointed if they don’t get to see him face to face. So, we try and get him out and get that engagement happening all the time. But yeah, it’s a pretty good little role. It’s great that he’s got a bit of pocket money coming in out of it as well.
What’s the feedback you’ve got with having a print publication back in town, some street press?
It seems positive, doesn’t it, Kev? When you give the newspapers to everyone, they seem happy about it, don’t they? I mean, we’ve even been in the street and people have run up to us and gone, ‘Oh, can I have one’? So, I think people are pretty keen to see what’s happening in town and you know, get connected.
What else do you do in the community Kevron? I always see you all over the place doing other things. Tell us about your DJ career.
That’s right yeah, Kev’s been learning how to DJ. His DJ name is ‘Rowdy Birds’. So yeah, that was a past support worker, who was good on the decks, so wanted to pass on those skills to Kev. Kev’s been learning how to do a bit of mixing, rapping on the top and a bit of scratching.
