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1 Shop 7-24 Main Road Boolaroo (across from IGA) E: / P: Our Community Place New Sensory Garden & Vegetable Garden Expansion Project underway! The Sensory Garden plot Watch this Space! In 2016 Our Community Place received a grant from Lake Macquarie City Council to establish a Sensory Garden and expand our vegetable garden at Boolaroo Pubic School. The grant will also enable us to erect a garden shed and enhance our garden with signage and decorative stakes. The Sensory Garden will be on an unused section of the school grounds and the vision is to create an outdoor learning space and a place where children can go and relax and enjoy being amongst nature. The garden will contain plants that provide a sensory experience for the children through their different aromas and textures. It is hoped that the plants will encourage insects such as butterflies. In addition to the plants, we will also be enhancing the garden with a collection of colourful features such as mosaics and garden sculptures and decorations. Our vegetable garden In addition to the sensory garden, we will also be expanding our vegetable garden to include a few more beds and improve presentation. The extra beds will enable us to provide more food for our Free Food Program, Breakfast Club & families of the school. Continued on page 2 1

2 Published by Our Community Place 7/24 Main Road Boolaroo. Staff Gay Sumiran Coordinator Elizabeth Hyslop Community Development Worker Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter (The BUZZ) to receive updates on our activities and services as well as local community information. Just go to All advertising, community news, editorial and distribution enquiries should be directed to: P.O. Box 159, Boolaroo NSW 2284 Phone: Any reader, advertiser or community group is encouraged to contribute to this newsletter with news items, community news events and any item of interest to local residents. Items less than 200 words in length are preferred because of limited space in the newsletter. In contributing news items the contributor thereby accepts that such information may or may not be published in print and/or online websites or other social media channels at the sole discretion of the publisher. No guarantee of publication is ever implied by this invitation to contribute. Except where otherwise may be noted herein, all information, photographs, texts and images contained within the newsletter is subject to copyright. Such copyright material cannot be reproduced and distributed in whole or part without the prior written consent of the publisher. 2 We have had a great start to the New Year at Our Community Place. We are excited about improving systems and performance in all our activities. The Christmas break has helped in what we say sharpening the saw. We look forward to starting the Breakfast Club and Homework Support Groups again at Boolaroo and Speers Point schools in Term 1. The Boolaroo School Garden Project has also started with enthusiastic Garden Group. We are still looking for people to join our group and get involved in creating a sensory garden at the school (see front page) February is a month of love and I hope that we all put our hearts into everything that we do for the whole year. As Jeffrey Gitomer has said The secret to climbing up is to put your heart into your work. GAY Continued from page 1. A newly established Garden Group commenced work in January starting with cleaning up, mulching and planting seedlings on our existing vegetable garden beds. We have a small dedicated team of volunteers in the Garden Group, but we would love more!! If you want to get involved with this great garden project please inquire now. The group will be working on the project on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9.00am to 11.00am/12.00 noon. All volunteers will need a Working with Children Check.

3 Womens Shed Boolaroo We enjoyed a fantastic, fun Christmas party in December! Much laughter, good food and music! Thanks to Lucy and Ron for entertaining us with your catchy tunes! We held our first gathering on 20 January and had the pleasure of meditation and relaxation coach Dixie leading us in some exercises. A great way to start the year! We have started off 2017 full of enthusiasm and ideas! This year we have some community projects in the pipeline as well as Bunnings workshops and organising some markets stalls. There are so many things that we could do and become involved in - if you haven t joined us yet, please do! Women Shed Boolaroo is an inclusive group for women of all ages. We invite women to come along to enjoy friendship, workshops, activities, support & encouragement and, of course, a cuppa and a chat! Babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers are welcome too! We are a group of Our Community Place Inc (a Neighbourhood Centre) and are enthusiastic about becoming involved in, and, helping out with community projects as well as learning about DIY. We are also interested in health, well-being, craft, socialising and much more!. Womens Shed Boolaroo meets fortnightly on Fridays at FASHVI Hall - 27 Fourth St, Boolaroo from 9.30am to 11.30am. We encourage a fee of $3 per week to help cover our costs (eg. hall hire, resources etc) Child minding We are privileged to have experienced women looking after babies and toddlers during the Shed meeting time. The children are entertained with games, books and simple craft! So, let your friends/ family with children know 3

4 Womens Shed Boolaroo continued.. Women's Shed upcoming activities Friday 3 February Mosaic stepping stones and garden decorations for the Our Community Place Garden Project at Boolaroo Public School. The mosaics and garden decorations will be incorporated into the sensory garden. You don t need to have had experience with mosaics before anyone can learn! Just come along and have some fun whilst getting to know other women better! Friday 17 February Friday 3 March Bunnings DIY Workshop! - Basic plumbing eg. changing washers, changing taps, leaking toilets etc. We will meet at FASHVI Hall from 9.30am for a cuppa and then head over to Bunnings for a 10.30am workshop Ribbon Stars We will be making some stars for a domestic violence awareness project for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The stars will become part of an art installation at the Games. PLUS we will continue with the Mosaic Stepping Stones Breakfast Club Breakfast Club in Boolaroo Public School is back in Term 1 from 31 st January It is run every Tuesday from 8:15-9:00am at the school hall during term times. This year the children will now be choosing from a healthy food menu and will be doing fun activities that promote healthy foods and lifestyle choices. In December, we held a Christmas Party in the last week of school. The children made lolly sleighs and played games. Was enjoyed by all! 4

5 Homework Support Group Homework Support Group will start up again on 7 th February! It will run on Tuesdays from 3.00pm-4.00pm at Speers Point Public School and Wednesdays from 3.00pm-4.00pm at Boolaroo Public School. We have a team of dedicated volunteers who help the children with their homework tasks. The children also enjoy a healthy afternoon tea. We also have plans for activity and games at the end of each term. We invite families of both schools to get involved. Parents are welcome to volunteer. If you would like to register for our Homework Support Group please contact us on or coordinator@ourcommunityplace.org.au See photos to the right from our Christmas party. The children enjoyed making snowmen and some lolly sleighs as well as enjoying a special afternoon tea. Items needed! We are looking for old wheelbarrows and a small wooden boat for our new sensory garden. They would be used to hold a variety of plants. If you can help us out, please contact us on

6 Refugee Welcome BBQ Saturday 18 February from 11am to 2pm Speers Point Park Activities will include; acrobatics workshop, face painting, sausage sizzle, soccer, cricket, fun races and a children s playground Hosted by Hunter Workers with the support of Lake Macquarie City Council, Northern Settlement Services and Navitas. For more information please contact one of the above. Courtesy of Lake Macquarie City Council Loop the Lake Charity Bike Ride Sunday 12 March 2017 Choice of distances - 13, 55 or 90 km. Also a new 7km family ride. Morning tea, fruit stops, water and toilets available around the course. Lunch also provided. The Ride is conducted by the Rotary Club of Warners Bay. Info: Courtesy of Lake Macquarie City Council Simple Money Manager Free online budgeting resource is designed to help culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) Australians with budgeting. The resource is available in English and eight other languages. Go to the ASIC s MoneySmart website at moneysmart.gov.au 5 Week First Touch Infant Massage Program Learn to communicate with your baby through massage and nurturing touch. Babies 0-12 months are welcome Receive sound information in an intimate, hands on, flexible and nurturing environment. Complimentary oil, handouts and morning tea provided Next Course starts Thurs 9 March (5 session x 1.5 hrs) 10.30am Mum s Cottage Holmesville Enquiries: Rochelle or Mum s Cottage Courtesy of Mum s Cottage Holmesville The site also has lots of other great tools to help with finances Courtesy of ASIC 6

7 Women's Shed Boolaroo Activities, workshops, friendship & support for all aged women Free Food Program Weekly food distribution in Boolaroo. For people on a government benefit. Contact us to register Garden Group Creating a sensory garden & working in our vegetable garden. Produce grown goes towards our Free Food Program. Volunteer gardeners always welcome! Ask us about it! Youthgroup Youthgroup for teens aged yrs. Held at The Willows Uniting Church in Warners Bay. Fridays from 3.30pm during school terms Breakfast Club Held weekly at Boolaroo Public School for students attending there. A nutritious breakfast is served and activities are also provided for the children. Homework Support Group Held weekly at both Boolaroo Public and Speers Point Public Schools. For students attending these schools. Volunteers provide support to the children completing their homework tasks. Tax Help Free help for tax returns for people on low incomes. Available from July to October. Office Facilities Use of our office facilities for a minimal cost - Photocopier, phone, computer & printer, scanner, laminator. Support We provide information, referrals and advocacy. We can also help you with resume development and job searching. Volunteering Opportunities. Our programs rely on a team of dedicated volunteers. If you would like to know more about how you can become involved, feel free to contact us. 7

8 OzHarvest Delivers food weekly to our Free Food Program. Oz Harvest collects quality surplus food from all types of food outlets and delivers it directly and free of charge to charities and organisations providing assistance to disadvantaged men, women and children in Newcastle & Lake Macquarie The Willows Uniting Church - Warners Bay Donate the use of their centre for a Youth group. Also provide volunteers and afternoon tea for the youth group Uniting Church Boolaroo Donates the use of their hall for the collection and distribution of food to people who come to the Free Food Program. Provides volunteers to assist in the collection and distribution of food for the food program Boolaroo Public School Provides the use of their hall for our Breakfast Club and their computer lab for our Homework Support Group Speers Point Public School Provides the use of their library and computer lab for our Homework Support Group Mac s IGA Boolaroo Donates food to our Free Food Program Eastlakes Youth Centre Provide Youthworker/s for the Provides volunteers to assist in our Community Vegetable Garden as well as seedling donations 8