IN BRIEF: Snapshots from around the territory
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IN BRIEF: Snapshots from around the territory
25 March 2022
Leanne Butler, Towards Independence Program Top End case manager (front), enjoys a celebratory meal with Life Skills program participants.
Learning skills for an independent life
Towards Independence Program Top End (TIPTE) aims to teach tenants how to manage finances more effectively and become financially independent.
“Many of our tenants come from serious disadvantage, and this doesn’t just mean financial disadvantage. Educational disadvantage is also a contributor to homelessness,” said Leanne Butler, TIPTE case manager.
TIPTE, which runs at Darwin Corps, applied for a $20,000 Innovation Grant through The Salvation Army in 2019 to facilitate a Life Skills Program to educate tenants on budgeting, home maintenance, cooking, cleaning, and health care.
The program was put on hold due to COVID-19; however, TIPTE was granted an extension and given funding to continue Life Skills in 2021. Workshops ran for two hours, providing participants with the opportunity to have hands-on experience and tools to take home.
“For example, for the cooking component, participants were provided with a cookbook and useful utensils for the kitchen; for home maintenance, tenants were given a toolkit to either fix a flyscreen or replace a hinge,” Leanne said.
By far the most popular class was cooking, so much so that when asked where participants would like to go for a celebration lunch for completing the workshops, they chose to head back into the kitchen and cook for themselves and the staff at Anula Complex.
“They cooked a beautiful meal, which was enjoyed by all, then for a Christmas lunch, the tenants again cooked a lovely meal for themselves and staff,” Leanne said.
Farewell Val!
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Val Parker is looking forward to spending more time with her eight grandchildren.
Val Parker is retiring after 37 years of employment with The Salvation Army.
Val began with the Army in 1985, serving as a personal assistant to divisional commanders for 33 years. She says she felt privileged to have contact with so many officers and staff over that time.
Val has served as the administrative assistant in officer recruitment at Eva Burrows College for the past four years.
“I was asked to set up the administration role when EBC started,” she said. “It was a huge and challenging job, but I’m pleased with how it has now developed into a professional role. I also love the beautiful location and have enjoyed working with the wonderful people at EBC!”
Val is looking forward to using her skills in volunteer work and spending time with her eight grandchildren.
“I’m also looking forward to having time and space to have coffee with good friends,” she said.
Glowing with anticipation
GLOW girls well-being and empowerment group, a long prayed-about initiative and partnership between 2508 Salvos (Helensburgh) and a local youth worker, started recently.
Created by Sammy Mahler of ‘A Fountain of Youth’, the program aims to empower and enrich the lives of growing teens.
The course guides participants through self-worth, resilience, healthy friendships, body acceptance, boundaries, social media and a session on fashion styling and op-shopping at Salvos Stores.
“I aim to provide a safe and supportive environment where each young girl will learn to feel empowered and inspired,” Sammy says.
2508 Mission Leader Lauren Martin says she jumped at the chance to partner with ‘A Fountain of Youth’ on the project.
“This is such a unique and much-needed initiative,” she says. “We want to invest in building healthy communities, particularly in building up youth and young people in Helensburgh. We have sponsored the first cohort for GLOW, and I look forward to working alongside Sammy as a co-facilitator.”
Worship arts training day
Encouraging and equipping worship leaders.
Worship Arts hosted a training day earlier this month for vocalists and worship leaders in NSW/ACT.
The training for participants (in-person and online) aimed to encourage, equip, and refresh our vocalists and worship leaders.
Louise Mathieson and Nicola Poore taught on the biblical view of worship.
Participants spent time reflecting on what it meant to be leaders of worship, received vocal tips, and looked at practical and creative ways of putting worship sets together.
Mentoring girls
‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ was the name of a popular song by rock band Motley Crue released in 1987 and, for The Salvation Army Port Augusta Corps, that’s the target group of an initiative just launched.
Corps Officer Major Gaye Day says the group aims to mentor high school-aged girls to help them navigate their teenage years while nurturing them on a faith journey.
“Apart from mentoring the girls, we plan to teach leadership skills with the girls assisting our adult leaders at Kidzone [the young people’s program within the corps],” she said.
“Our first week was very successful with the girls considering ‘Who am I’, looking at self-esteem, skills, and talents as well as recognising the skills and talents that they see in others as well.”
The first afternoon involved teaching, team challenges and individual challenges.
“Their favourite challenge was trying to create a 50cm marshmallow ‘tower’, which they quickly worked out was easier to complete if they worked together,” Gaye said.
The girls are being mentored by Gaye and other corps faith community members, including Nicole Cugley and Tracy McMahon.
Share your favourite international recipe
To celebrate Harmony Week, The Salvation Army is compiling an international recipe book. Get involved and share your favourite recipe for a chance to win one of three $100 Good Food vouchers.
Recipes from all cultures are welcome. One entry is permitted per person. Entries close Monday 18 April. Winners will be randomly selected and will be announced on 21 April. For more details, click here
Flood response update
Thanks to our generous donors, volunteers and supporters, The Salvation Army has provided the following support in Queensland and NSW:
- Distributed $3,143,527 in financial assistance and in-kind support such as food parcels, clothing, and household items
- Issued 14,648 recovery grants
- Assisted 15,322 households
- Currently supporting 26 recovery hubs plus providing outreach
- 7488 total volunteer hours worked at evacuation centres (now closed)
- 42,647 meals and refreshments served at evacuation centres (now closed)
(As of 25 March 2022)
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