In September, we spoke about the new Collective Community volunteer group and how they had already began giving back to their local community.
At this time, the group had already made 15 food hampers, 300 muffins and cupcakes for our Brekky Club, sewn 30 library bags for school children and were even hemming school uniforms for free. On the 9th of September, Collective Community held a valuable and informative cooking workshop with help from NCNS Community Workers, Cathy Briffa, Rabia Tareen and Justine Reynolds. This workshop was a highlight for members of the group, NCNS Workers and community who participated with everyone providing fantastic feedback about the day.
You may be thinking, how much more could this amazing group possibly do!? Well, here is an update. Since then the Volunteer Group has been extremely busy both at the group meetings as well as in their own time. Collective Community have been meeting fortnightly, and in this time, they have supported a number of local organisations, families and NCNS groups.
Some of the achievements of the Collective Community volunteer group in the last few months include:
? Provided over 500 baby items to local Nepean Young Pregnancy Support Group (NYPS)
? Made up 30 toy packages for Aboriginal children of families living on the land
? Put together 20 emergency bags for both men and women fleeing domestic violence situations
? Collected ‘going to school’ supplies, e.g. pencils, backpacks, texters, scissors and more and donating to two organisations
? Created fine motor handmade gloves for children attending 3 local playgroups. These can help some children sit for a longer period of time during activities like story time or music time.
? Sourced TV’s, Queen Sized bed, bedside tables, curtains and blinds that were donated to several families in the Cranebrook & Kingswood park area
? Baked Hundreds of cupcakes/muffins for the NCNS Brekky club for children’s morning tea
Right now, the ladies from the group are creating handmade Christmas gifts by turning recycled coffee jars into tea light candle holders (battery operated). The group is hoping to combine what they make, with the Collective Kids Community group who are also working on their own tea light candle holders. These gifts will be distributed to retirement homes in the area, hoping to bring a smile to the face of seniors who may not have family or visitors over Christmas.
NCNS Community Development Worker, Justine Reynolds spoke passionately about the Collective Community group, “The women come from all over the Penrith LGA and are truly amazing! A lot of these women are also busy with other groups and volunteering their own spare time to continue to support the local community. We are looking for new members for 2020!”
The last meeting of this year will be on Monday 2nd December 2019 from 12pm – 2.30pm at Cranebrook Neighbourhood Centre. The groups first meeting for 2020 will be Monday 10th February. If you are interested in giving back to your community come and check out this group. We welcome and encourage any new members to come along! If you would like more information about this group, please contact NCNS Community Development Worker, Justine Reynolds on 02 4729 0442 or email info@nepeancommunity.org.au
