Greenacres Newsletter Issue 35 Oct 2010.pdf

SORRY TO SEE YOU GO !Several members of the Greenacres family left us to do other things duringthe last three months.Andrew Coutts left us aftersix years to go travelling.Andrew started withGreenacres as a volunteer,but soon became a valuedmember of the workforce .We all wish Andrew welland look forward to hearingabout his travels on hisreturn.Left to rightBruce,Norman,Kim,Helen,Neil,MichaelAndMarkAt the awardceremonyMENTAL HEALTHAWARDGreenacres Disability Services and the Illawarra Division of GeneralPractice win a prestigious 2010 ‘Partnerships in Wellbeing’ AwardWe also said good-bye toPatricia Button, Sascha ByfordMichael Davidson, Ralph andMarley Mahe.After 22 years with GreenacresJeannie Mitchell retired from the factoryto take up a place at the GreenacreRoad centre. We wish Jeannie welland hope she enjoys her Elvis goodiespresented to her by Neil.Greenacres Disability Services and The Illawarra Division of GeneralPractice won the prestigious 2010 ‘Partnerships in Wellbeing’ Award fortheir innovative collaborative program for supported employees withmental health issues. The award is the Eli Lilly Award for ‘a program thatassists people living with a mental illness to optimise their lifestyles andimprove their quality of life’.The award was presented on 31 August 2010 to representatives of theprogram at the main conference dinner of the annual conference of theAustralian College of Mental Health Nurses in Hobart and was a highlightof the night. The night began with a reception at Government House.The program called ‘Better Days’ was developed by GreenacresDisability Services in conjunction with mental health nurses from theIllawarra Division of General Practice, a local psychologist and the VETECoordinator from SESIAHS.The two Mental Health Nurses, Kim and Helen, Greenacres TrainersBruce Marshall and Mark Wynen, two of the program participants,Norman Paez and Michael Heald, and Greenacres CEO Neil Preston allflew to Hobart for the presentation on the night to accept the award whichalso carried a prize of $8,000 to be used to further develop the ‘BetterDays’ program at Greenacres.At the presentation Norman and Michael both spoke briefly as to what‘Better Days’ meant to both of them.

Let’s find a new name for thenewsletterWe are holding a competition to find a new name for the GreenacresNewsletter. The competition is open to all Greenacres Employees andcloses on 5th November 2010. Entries are to be submitted toJackie Slater in Administration for judging. A suitable prize will beawarded to the winner and the new name will appear on the ChristmasEdition.Vasko’s sculptureWe have a talented artist in our midst. Vasko works in the factory for oneand a half days each week and volunteers one afternoon each week atthe Oak Street Centre.Joblink staff did a fine job with morning tea, drinks and cakes ,althoughGreg Euston was not allowed to use a knife. While Neil, Mimma, MarkAndy and Kay cooked good onions for lunch. There were plenty of snagsand steaks for lunch with the day services staff serving it up and Lirimreported to have eaten 10 sausages, well done Mr Fejzuli.Neil made a special presentation of certificates to those employees whocompleted the ‘Run with the Law 2010’ event. Those who accepted theircertificates were Jade Stewart, Chloe Booth, Chris Herbert, Tony Davis,James Burgess and Gerry Gooden. Well done guys!The piñata made an appearance with such luminaries as Peter ‘too slow’O’Brien, Freddy ‘which way did it go’ Northall and Jade ‘the ripper’Stewart making a fine mess of a thong and a treasure chest.A great day was had by all with plenty of contributions from staff from allGreenacres Services.—John RussellVasko had his sculptures exhibited at the Old Wollongong Court Houseon Cliff Road on the weekend of 25th—27th June.

Over the weekend of September 18 th and 19 th Greenacres participated inthe annual Cancer Council’s ‘Relay for Life’ at Kerryn McCann AthleticCentre.The Relay is a 24 hour community event to raise money for cancerresearch and support. There were over 160 teams registered for thisyear’s Relay with over 2,500 participants. The Relay is expected to raiseover $300,000.Greenacres had a great crew from all the Greenacres Services thatwalked from 10am Saturday morning to 10am Sunday morning. Themoney raised by the Greenacres team should reach over $2,000.Thank you very much to all those staff, employees, services users andtheir families that attended, especially those employees from GreenacresIndustries who stayed and walked through the night. Natalie Russionello,Alys Bradburn, Sharon Kennedy, Amie O’Neill, Andrew Dillon, FredNorthall, Daniel Caldwell, David Jacobs, James Burgess and NathanJeffery. Also Thank you to Greg Schubert from Greenacres EmploymentSolutions who also walked through the night.—Mark WynenTEN YEARS IN 2010Illawarra Relay forLifeThe Illawarra Relay for Life has meant so much for meMaking lots of friends and happy memories as I’m sure you will agreeOn a Spring Saturday in SeptemberThis is when we all CELEBRATE, FIGHTBACK AND REMEMBERThank you Grant and all of your Volunteer TeamFor making Ten Years of Relay for what it has beenLots of Love, Laughter and Support is what everyone needsNow as we put our Hand on Our Hearts and Let us All PrayThat we can all Defeat Cancer in the Illawarra todayThank you Mark Wynen and the Greenacres TeamFor all of your support which you have given meWritten by Sharon Kennedy – Greenacres Disability ServicesSharon is partOf theEntertainmentAt Relay for LifeEach year andis a popularPerformer,