by Janice Challinor

Over the past year the Community Development Subcommittee has focused principally on activities designed to engage with, and provide practical support for, the wider Glebe community. Diane Hutchinson’s idea, to create Kitchen Starter Packs (KSP) for families leaving Elsie Refuge and moving to their own accommodation began in the previous year, and is most successful in addressing these objectives. Slightly smaller packs have been created for men who complete their programs at Rainbow Lodge and move into their own accommodation. To date we have supplied a total of 38 packs.

A City of Sydney matching grant, to fund the purchase of new items (mainly new jugs and toasters) has been totally expended, as have cash donations from members and donations from the Glebe Op Shop. The bulk of the pack contents are recycled goods, sourced by donations from the community. Considerable effort is needed to collect, clean, arrange and deliver the Packs, and although several others have been assisting, it is primarily down to Diane who has borne the brunt of the responsibility and labour.

We hope to continue this project but we have four concerns. The first is finding a place to store, clean and pack goods collaboratively. At the moment we are waiting for a response from City of Sydney on our request to use the former ‘Meals on Wheels’ kitchen at St Helens for that purpose. If you have an alternative to Diane’s home, please let us know. The second is the need for people to contribute their time to help clean and pack items. If you can help with this, we’d love to hear from you. The third is to generate funds for the purchase of new items for future packs and, of course, the fourth is a continued supply of good quality recycled items. The donation collection point and times are the Aboriginal Cultural Space at the Glebe Town Hall from 10am to 1pm, on the second and fourth Fridays of the month. If you have any items we could use, please drop them in to us. A list of the items we include in packs is on the Glebe Society website under ‘Community’. As for generating funds, we are considering several ideas at the moment. We will advise members of these through The Bulletin and updates, so please ‘stay tuned’.

Our other practical project is ‘Sewing for Good’. A few seamstresses (no ‘seamsters’ to date! Where are you gentlemen?) meet bi-monthly at the Aboriginal Cultural Space at the Glebe Town Hall from 10am to 1pm, on the second and fourth Fridays of each month. We sew, chat, caffeinate and create tote bags for donation to the Asylum Seekers Centre at Newtown, where they are utilised by clients collecting items from their food-bank. Please join us for this pleasant and productive activity, especially if you can sew. If you can’t, or have unused pieces of new fabric languishing in your linen press bring them along and join us anyway. To date we have donated over 200 tote bags to the ASC which is helping them reduce use of plastics. As people are reusing them, the demand has dwindled a little. Consequently we are thinking of selling some to help raise funds for the KSP-required electricals. Perhaps you too could use one of these colourful and useful items to do your bit for the environment and the community.

Earlier this year, Jan and Neil Macindoe revised and updated the Glebe Society timeline of significant events for the 50th Anniversary exhibition, while Janice with the assistance of Jan Wilson gathered information on 71 Community organisations and services which operate in Glebe and Forest Lodge. This compilation was displayed at the 50th event as well, and we hope will shortly be available on our website for people searching for opportunities to interact with other members of our community.

The contribution of our ‘Personal Perspectives on Life in Glebe’ panel discussion for the 50th week was also well received, thanks to our speakers Vicki Pogulis, David Gaunt and Alison McKeown. The launch by John Faulkner of Sadie King’s biography Glasgow to Glebe, written by Janice Challinor, was also very popular, as attested to by an oversubscribed event and the sell-out of the publication on the day. For those who missed out, the Management Committee has approved a reprint so copies will be available from next month’s AGM onwards.

We continued the Society’s support for the annual fundraising event in support of Centipede at Glebe Public School last October and are currently engaged in planning for this year’s Soirée. The venue for the event, generously provided gratis by Glebe Rowing Club will again be their premises in Ferry Rd, so put Friday 11 October on your calendar.

The annual Christmas collection was well subscribed to last year and provided many gifts for Elsie and several other supported accommodation facilities in Glebe. Additional gifts donated by members of the management and staff of Chris O’Brien’s Lifehouse Hospital in Camperdown complemented our collections too. We intend to continue this activity this year and hope that COB Lifehouse will again extend its support.

The sub-committee continues its outreach to the wider Glebe community through Glebe Connected where Dorothy Davis, although not a Community committee member, is ably representing the Society, while Diane Hutchinson attends meetings of COGG (Council of Glebe Groups) and FLAG (Forest Lodge and Glebe), and Janice attends Glebe HAPN (Housing Action Plan Now) meetings. These network linkages continue to help us contribute to the wellbeing of our wider suburban community.

If you have a particular interest in contributing to our community outreach through the Community Committee please contact Diane, Jan or me, or bring your ideas for doing so to our regular sub-committee meeting at Kate’s (St John Espresso) at 10am on the Monday prior to the Management Committee meeting. That is usually the 2nd Monday of the month, so we shall look forward to welcoming you.

Janice Challinor

Convenor, Community Subcommittee

 

The ‘Sewing for Good’ team in action; an initiative of the Society’s Community Subcommittee (photo: Janice Challinor)