COLYTON WELCOME TOUR

On Saturday 29^th October Team Colyton took 30 newly arrived refugees around Colyton & St Marys to display the great community we have! Local residents of Colyton, with the use of translators, displayed our schools, churches, shops, parks and other amenities during a one hour bus tour and then closed the afternoon at Barr & Bass Reserve in Colyton sharing stories & lunch. A refugee who had been in Australia for 9 days said a local Colyton resident on the tour was her first Australia she had spoken too!
Thank you to Team Colyton, Community Junction Inc, Penrith City Council Neighbourhood Renewal, Settlement Services International, Ethnic Community Services Co-operative, Nepean Multicultural Access Inc, Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District and our volunteer bus drivers Ted and John for making this tour a success.

FASHION PROJECT 2016 - HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR

The 2016 Fashion Project is heading straight to the red carpet this year with the theme of “Hollywood Glamour”.

14 young people from Werrington and Erskine Park Youth Spaces have been working hard drawing, developing and constructing an outfit from recycled materials to the theme of “Hollywood Glamour”. These outfits will be on show on the catwalk  at the showcase night  on the 24th November 2016, that will be held at the ‘Museum of Contemporary Arts Australia’.

 

Throughout the Fashion Project we have run a number of different workshops that incorporated skill based learning activities, specific to the fashion stream. The Design Illustration workshops focused on basic design illustration skills, developing an inspiration/ mood board and developing the final illustration which young people will use in developing their final piece for showcase night.

 

Within this part of the design process we visited one of Australia’s  leading fashion schools ‘The Whitehouse Institute of Designs’ for a 2 day workshop where young people worked with Sarah in developing their illustrations for a final production, young people also learnt skills rendering fashion drawings and communicating design through coloured fashion illustration and production drawing.

A huge thank you to ‘Whitehouse Institute of  Designs ‘for supporting us with the Fashion Project and donating 2 School Holidays Scholarships to the value of $630 each.

Young people are currently working on the sewing component of the fashion project which is bringing their illustrations to life by constructing their final garment from the recycled materials. Through the Fashion Project this year we have worked in partnership with ‘Museum of Contemporary Arts Australia’ who are providing a beautiful venue where the showcase will be held this year as well supporting us on this creative project.

 

 

 

CELEBRATING GRANDPARENTS

On the 1^st November Community Junction Inc. celebrated Grandparents Day with Bennett Rd Public School acknowledging the valuable contributions older people have to bringing up our children. The day was celebrated with 500 children and 270 grand-parents sharing morning tea & lunch and participating in 11 activity stations together including crazy hairspray, photo booth,  1000 scrubs given away by Greening Australia, temporary tattoos, bookmark making, footy throwing targets by the NRL, biscuit decorating, badge making, paper – plane making, reading tent and interview a grand-parent. The day was a great success and Grandparents & Grandchildren walked away with something to eat, a memory to take home & a smile!

 Thank you to all the services that came together to make it happen – Bennett Rd Public School, Colyton High School, Colyton Church, Uniting Way, Ability Links, Family Referral Centre, Hope St, NRL, St Johns Ambulance, Greening Australia.

CHILDREN'S WEEK

Community Junction Inc celebrated Children’s Week with lots of fun at Colyton Neighbourhood Centre and North St Marys Neighbourhood Centre last week.  Over 200 families attended these FREE events with a range of children’s activities on offer such as an animal petting zoo, face painting, kids craft corner, roving magician and balloon twister. Parents didn’t miss out, they enjoyed a delicious morning tea provided and prepared by Uniting Way volunteers.  Playvan from Penrith City Council provided amazing educational toys for young children to play with.  Rooby Roo visited and as always the children were very excited to see her. Families are grateful that a free event is available for them to attend and they look forward to many more events that help create a community.

 

 

ANNUAL CHRISTMAS FOOD DRIVE

We will be collecting unopened, in date non perishable items and new toys for our annual Christmas food drive. 

 

Donations can be dropped off at St Clair Shopping Centre, St Clair Public School and our Community Junction locations at Autumnleaf Neighbourhood Centre St Clair, Colyton Neighbourhood Centre Colyton, Namatjira Neighbourhood Centre Werrington and North St Marys Neighbourhood Centre North St Marys, between the 11^th November and 15^th December 2016  .

 

Christmas Hampers will be packed and distributed to Holy Catholic Church St Clair.

For more information contact info@communityjunction.org.au

 

 

 

YOUTH CAR WASH FUNDRAISER

The Car Wash Fundraiser was the youth team’s most successful activity during the Winter School
Holidays. Through the cold high speed winds, young people persevered to break their record of 20 cars in 4 hours and cleaned 24 cars in 4 hours!

This fundraiser at SUPA IGA Werrington enabled young people to build fundraising skills through customer service, handling cash and working as a team. By working in partnership with SUPA IGA Werrington, young people who attend Werrington Youth Centre were able be involved with their community and raise funds for their end of year camp.

 

NSW CARER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Carers provide unpaid care and support to family members or friends who have a disability, mental illness, drug/alcohol dependency, chronic condition terminal illness or those who are frail. National Carers Week was held between the 17^th October 2016, and 21^st of October 2016. To Launch Carers Week the Carers Awards Ceremony was held on the 17^th of October to kick of the week’s Events. The NSW Carers Annual Award is hosted yearly by Minister Hon John Ajaka, Minister for Aging, Disability, Multiculturalism and Volunteering and our very own Community Junction Team Member Sadie Arida was awarded the 2016 NSW Carer of the Year Award. Well Done Sadie.

 

BOYS SHED

Young men from Chifley College Dunheved Campus who participate in our‘Boys Shed’ Project have complete three weeks of graffiti art workshops that has culminated in the creation of a North St Marys Community Mural at the Outdoor Reading Room in Parklawn Place Shops. 

 

Young people from the high school mentored children from St Marys North Primary School with a lot of success. The young men have expressed they are proud of their work and didn’t think they could achieve so much.

 

We received so much positive feedback from residents on the day; the mural depicts the journey of a young person with reference to ‘footy mad’ youth culture present in the community through the image of the panther.

 

ODD SHOE DAY

Statistics indicate that around 1 in 2 Australians will be effected by mental illness during some point in their lifetime. To raise awareness and stomp out stigma, Aftercare celebrated individual differences with “odd shoe day” and Community Junction was lucky enough to be invited and get involved. Be it cooking the BBQ or colouring in, it was terrific to see so many community members working together and celebrating diversity across all life aspects.

 

 

CHILDREN'S SERVICES

North St Marys Preschool and North St Marys OOSH are located on the safe school grounds of  St Marys North Public School. 

During Term 3 they have been exploring diversity, inclusion and belonging to our world. Children Services have been fortunate to work with educators from Aboriginal background who engaged in a   variety of indigenous group art projects, dance and  discussions with the children and educators.

The service has also been working closely with St Marys North Public School and as a community have celebrated and participated in the Book Parade and Athletics Carnival. Preschool will continue to extend this partnership through school orientation visits in Term 4.

The children that attend our OOSH service have also planned, shared ideas and helped prepare the After School Care menu, Masterchef’s in the making! 

Our Mobile Children Service provides child care support for groups/agencies that run in the Penrith LGA in various locations. Our Mobile Educators have been busy this term supporting groups/agencies such as family support, disability, and health, through child care support for children 6 weeks to 5 years of age, making positive connections with children, making quick decisions about the best way to provide an appealing  environment and experiences for children in the variety of spaces worked in.

As one Care Pair educator has commented some children are upset when they separate from their parent/carer. “there was one child who had not left their family before, I  encouraged and engaged with them, they enjoyed many of the activities we had on offer and by the end of the course they was interacting more with the other children. Some groups run once where as others may run over several weeks.

If you would like more information about our service please call  96230331. 

 

NATIONAL CARER'S WEEK EVENT

"Carers Day Off"

 

With the rollercoaster of life around us, anyone at any time can ricocheted into the role of an unpaid carer. Unpaid carers contribute an estimated $60.3 billion per year in unpaid work and caring responsibilities. However, the hard work carried out by Australian carers is often forgotten and as a group, they often experience social isolation, find it hard to enter and maintain employment or participate in education.

As such, to celebrate and raise awareness of the valuable work carried out in caring roles, Community Junction and Ability Links held “Carers Day Off” – a pamper day for anyone in a caring role at home. Participants received a facial, manicure and pedicure for a bit of indulgence, and had the opportunity to participate in a Pilates class.   One attendee became emotional that she broke down in tears, thanking us for organising the event because “I often sit at home thinking, why me, why can’t I just die. But today I feel good”.

 

Our thanks go to Hogs Breath St Marys who catered lunch for the participants and Coles Cambridge Park provided a gift card which we were able to purchase salads, drinks and sweets for morning tea. 

 

 

 

 

 

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CAMBRIDGE PARK LIONS CLUB DONATION

We would like to thank the Cambridge Park Lions Club for their generous donation of two iPads.

 

Having these devices will enable us capture photographs and document activities and events within the community. It is this kind of community and interagency support that ensures we are able to provide quality services to our community members in an engaging and interactive way.

 

THANK YOU!

We would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank Penrith City Council's Community Assistance Program (CAP), ClubGRANTS NSW and Carers NSW for recent funding.  All funds will gratefully go towards developing and supporting programs within our communities.

 

One of these programs will be our National Children's Week events ‘Play, REaD with Rooby Day’ to be held at Colyton Neighbourhood Centre (Cnr Jensen & Willoughby St) on  Tuesday 25th October 2016 and Nth St Marys Neighbourhood Centre (Cnr Debrincat Ave and Oleander Rd) on Thursday 27th October 2016.

 

Bring the family along and meet Rooby Roo and enjoy a variety of activities such as face painting, baby animal farm, children's entertainment, Rooby's reading tent, show bags and more.  

 

Both events will run from 9:30am - 11:30am.  We'd love to see you there!

 

Our Community Engagement Worker Frances was presented with the cheque from RSL & Ex-Serviceman's Club Ltd CEO Michael Wiezel.

 

 

COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER - CJ NEWS.

Our Term 4 newsletter 'CJ News' is now available.
To view our newsletter you can click on the link below. 
http://www.communityjunction.org.au/files/cj%20news%20Term%204.pdf

COMMUNITY JUNCTION NEWSLETTER

WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE OUR NEWSLETTER VIA EMAIL?  You never have to miss an issue of our  newsletter.  You can request to have a copy sent to you, via your email, or postal address.  Please email  info@communityjunction.org.au  requesting a copy with your email or postal address and we will add you to the list. 

FEEDBACK   We would love to know what you think about our Newsletter.  Is it informative?  Is the layout easy to read.  Tell us what you think, good or bad.  Email info@communityjunction.org.au with your comments.

 

ABORIGINAL ART PROJECT

An Aboriginal Art Project was run at Werrington Youth Centre during Term 3, where the Indigenous Team from Community Junction Inc. popped out to teach young people Aboriginal art and storytelling through art.  The assistance of the Aboriginal team not only provided the young people with new art skills but also an education around cultures within the community.

Over five weeks young people at Werrington Youth Centre were able to use their new knowledge and develop

Aboriginal art skills through canvas and clapping stick painting. During the last two weeks young people created a final art piece where they painted a larger canvas which would enter a competition. Young people from the youth centre and workers from     Community Junction Inc, voted for their favourite art piece. The winner of this competition will receive a trophy and have their art piece transferred onto a piece of clothing for the Community Junction Inc, Fashion Showcase at the  Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney on the 24th November, 2016.

 



The winning piece of art work.

WERRINGTON FESTIVAL

Saturday August 20^th marked another successful day in the Werrington Calendar where local stall holders and business came together with community groups and organisations to give back to local residents.  This year, huge crowds enjoyed performances from Cambridge Park High School and Patricia Stephens Dance Studio. Plus there was a special appearance from Rooby Roo while Penrith City Council Childcare Centre told a story. The Art Exhibition “Why I love Werrington” showcased the artistic talent of Primary School children throughout the area whilst the range of FREE activities insured both young and old had a great time. We would like to thank and acknowledge the supporters that contributed to the Werrington Festival 2016.

THANK YOU Richardson & Wrench Jordan Springs, Coles Cambridge Gardens, Blue Mountains Sound, Spin-A-Disk Mobile Disco, Ruby’s   Werrington County, Connor’s  Gourmet Meat Werrington County,  Candi May’s Plaster Painting Fun,  Go Bananas St Marys, Hoyts Penrith  & Mt Druitt, Kennards Hire Penrith, Flip Out Penrith, Masters Penrith, Kid About Playland St Marys and  Featherdale Wildlife Park.

  

 

 

 

OUR FIRST YEAR CELEBRATION

Community Junction Inc.celebrated its first year as a combined organisation on the 4th July 2016.  We celebrated with a morning tea at North St Marys Neighbourhood Centre.  Barb, our General Manager thanked staff and our partners for the wonderful support they have shown over the year.  We were treated to a  slideshow highlighting our achievements over the last 12 months.  This year has been about learning, adjustment and growth. We have been able to provide some wonderful programs and activities to members of our local communities and we are looking forward to providing many more services in the future.

BILLY CART DERBY

 

The Youth Project's Billy Cart Derby Day was held at the Outdoor Reading Room at North St Mary’s Shopping Village on  Friday 22nd April during the recent school holidays. Students from Dunheved High School participated in the derby, as part of the Young Boys Shed Project.  There was a lot of fun and laughter, with plenty of enjoyment from the participants and spectators.

 

 

 

 

 

FREE BOOKS FOR ROBBY'S REaDING TREE

Rooby’s REaDing Tree received a massive boost of pre-loved and mostly brand new books on the last week of term 1. With the help of Jodie Mitchell, one of United Ways Corporate Partners, the staff at T Rowe Price, had an internal kids book drive, and two of their employees came to the final Rooby’s Reading Tree group of the term to present the books to our Colyton worker Frances and the children. Parents and carers took many books home and the remaining books will be utilised at Rooby’s Corner in our centres, and at events etc.  The representatives from T Rowe Price, we able to see first-hand, how their generous donations made a difference to these children families and local communities.

SENIORS FESTIVAL EVENTS

Seniors FESTIVAL events  

Community Junction Inc hosted and participated in a number of Seniors Festival events across Penrith.  Penrith City Council launched the event on the 1st April  at the Pop-Up Park  in Penrith. The Deputy Mayor, Clr Ross Fowler OAM along with the Member for Penrith, The Honourable Stuart Ayres MP, Fiona Scott MP –Member for Lindsay and Clr Jackie Greenow OAM officially welcomed the Re-Imagine Ageing Seniors Festival to our City.

 

Over at St Clair members from our St Clair Men’s Shed and members from St Marys Vietnam Veterans Affairs came along with their partner’s, to enjoy a very special morning tea and to show our appreciation for the contribution this group shows to others in the community.  They enjoyed an fun and interactive exercise demonstration by Donna our regular Gentle Exercise facilitator.

 

 

Erskine Park Neighbourhood Centre was a buzz with activity on Wednesday 6th April as it  celebrated its Annual Seniors Week event. This  year the emphasis was on  Re-Imaging  Ageing and we at Community Junction were  joined by residents, schools and 10 organisations/services that were able to provide  seniors with useful information. Living Beautifully got everyone off to a great start with  their laughing Yoga demonstration, which was contagious and put everyone in a good  mood. SydWest Multicultural Services gave a strength balance demonstration. There was also a special presentation made to the seniors of  homemade cookies by Erskine Park Children’s Centre to mark the event. The food on the day was catered by Erskine Park High School students and the entertainment was a mixture of James Erskine  Public, Erskine Park High School and the Nuba Mountains Association of NSW who together added colour and sparkle to the day. 

 

Over at Colyton the Seniors Living Well group hopped on the bus and headed to the Joan Sutherland Centre on Thursday 7^th April to attend Penrith City Council’s annual Seniors Week concert. The concert was filled with breathtaking performances by Nepean Creative Performing Arts High School, The Diamond Divas and some local talent sourced from  Penrith itself.  After the show the Living Well group hopped back on the bus to grab some lunch at the St Marys RSL before heading home to end what had been nothing short of a great day!