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PROUDLY BY:SPONSORED TUI JOINT VENTURE PARTNERS

www.bigbrothersbigsisters.org.nz

New Plymouth - Ph(Also operating in Waitara, Inglewood, Stratford & Hawera)

: 06 759 8854

“We gratefully acknowledge our Principal Sponsors, who have been instrumental in enabling us to positively impact on children’s lives and empowering them to achieve in the future. However, this does not include all of the many community partners and generous supporters of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Taranaki that we

have at a more local level, but we are no less grateful to them for their generosity and support”.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Taranaki Events:Mon 5 Dec 2011 Stratford Monthly Meet, 7.00pm, Stratford Community House, Juliet Street, Stratford Tues 6 Dec 2011 New Plymouth Bi-Monthly Meet, 7.00pm at the Tasman Club, Octavius Place, New PlymouthWed 7 Dec 2011 World Festival of Magic 2011, TSB Showplace, New Plymouth, 5.00 pm - 6.30 pm.

Taranaki Events:Arts in the Park, King Edward Park, Waihi Road, Hawera on Saturday 3 Dec 2011 from 10.00am. Come and enjoy picturesque King Edward Park, browse the arts and crafts on sale, sit down and relax watching the performers or have a bite to eat!New Plymouth Lions Christmas Parade Saturday 3 Dec 2011 from 6.00pm, travels along New Plymouth's Devon Street, starting at the clock tower.Pukeiti Explorer Day, Sun 4 Dec 2011 from 10.30am until 2.00pm at Pukeiti Gardens, 2230 Carrington Road, New Plymouth. A day of summer garden activities including sausage sizzle, fun on lawn and garden explorations. Contact Georgie Williams on 0800 736 222 or visit www.pukeiti.org.nz for more info. FREE event. Hawera Christmas Festival and Santa Parade, Saturday 10 Dec 2011 at the Hawera Town Square with the street festival starting at 9.00am leading up to the parade at 12noon. FREE family entertainment from a bouncy castle to rides in the Thomas the Tank engine; awesome Stilt walkers; Face painting, clowns, sculptured balloons and lots more! TSB Bank Carols by Candlelight on Sunday 11 Dec 2011 at the Hatchery Lawn in Pukekura Park starting at 8.00pm. Bring the family and join the New Plymouth Brass Band for a night of carols under the stars! Entry by Gold Coin donation. Stratford Christmas Carols on

TSB Bank Festival of Lights from 18 Dec 2011 until 29 Jan 2012. New Plymouth's gem, Pukekura Park, is transformed into a wonderland of lights! Fluorescent pebble paths sparkle beneath excited feet, majestic trees and plants glow, and waterfalls and lakes shimmer and shine beneath thousands of lights. Entertainment will

t hstart in the park from the 26 of December. Check www.festivaloflights.co.nz at the beginning of December for the latest programme information and schedule of eventsTe Kupenga Biennial Stone Sculpture Symposium 2012 from 27 Dec 2011 until 13 Jan 2012. Set on New Plymouth's Coastal Walkway, near our famous Wind Wand, the 2012 Stone Carving Symposium will demonstrate the strength and beauty of hard stone sculpture and showcase sculptors.

Friday 16 Dec 2011 at 5.30pm in Prospero Place, Stratford. There will be a bbq, bouncy castle for the kids and most importantly carols.

WelcomeWelcomeNovember 2011

This Space is Available for Sponsorship - Do you know of any businesses that may be interested?

Contact Paul Lampe on 759 8854 for more details

Another busy month has flown by here in the office, and the buzz of Christmas has begun. We have recently finished training eight new wonderful mentors, two from Hawera and six from New Plymouth. They will be getting matched over the next few weeks - you can see the new match photo’s over the page, very exciting!

Bush Quest 2011A great outing was had by all who attended the Bush Quest at Lake Mangamahoe a few weeks ago. The kids certainly enjoyed exploring the bush and finding out a little more about their water supply! There were some

wonderful looking picnics and some happy hungry kids to feed! A big thanks to a l l the mentors that a t t e n d e d , i t w a s encouraging to see the kids having so much fun. A special thanks to Roger and Anna of Freeze Frame Fotographics for the photos they took for us. The School Based mentors held their Bush Quest the previous week, and they also had a ball. They had the added bonus of watching a police dog demonstration, so a big thanks to Snr Constable Al Munro, the NP Police dog handler, and to our own Paul Lampe who kindly agreed to be the bait!

Look who we found at the Bush Quest! Our very own Jon, with his little brother Manz. Looking forward to

seeing you in that new blue uniform Jon!

Margaret and her little sister Kylie sharing a joke and a wonderful picnic at the recent Bush Quest

Bryan Benton with his little brother Jonathon at the recent Bush Quest. These two will be celebrating their 4 year match milestone this month, what a wonderful achievement! Bryan says that while their relationship is different than when they were first matched, (Jonathon is nearly 17) they still enjoy spending time together.

One of the School Based mentors, Helen Begg with three of the young people on the school based programme -

Khairal, Jaedyn-Lee, and Demi-Jay.

Photograph courtesy of Freeze Frame Fotographics

Start SomethingStart Something

Congratulations to our recent matchesCongratulations to our recent matches

Robin with her new little sister, Felicity - CB, NP

It's that time when you REALLY want to get that awesome gift for your mentee – after all, it is Christmas – isn't it? But first, please consider a few things; how do you think their siblings may feel about the gift, and how will the parent feel – possibly undermined – or hurt that they can't provide such a lavish gift? A General rule of thumb is to keep the gift under $20, and we recommend something that you can 'do' together – ie craft type activities, or sports equipment. Or, you could buy something and keep the item at your house - this will avoid any issues with siblings, and the item may also remain intact for some time. Another suggestion is to takeour young person out for that special outing that due to cost you haven't been able to do, and Christmas is

ecial enough occasion to justify doing that!

ya sp

Christmas Presents

The Team at Big Brother Big Sisters of Taranaki enjoying theHamilton sun.

To Bryan Benton and Jonathon who are our first

match to reach their 4 YEAR match anniversary

this month. Awesome!

Congratulations also to Anthony & Angie Joines

and Keaton who celebrated their 2 YEAR match,

and to the following matches who celebrated

their 3 MONTH match anniversary this month:

Jane Swann and Sheree

Ashlee Woods and Taylah

Graham Bocock and Bailey

Danielle Manu and Elyse

Yvonne Peacock and Sjaan

Sarah Jones and Dezha

These milestones really are a wonderful

achievement, and one that we know has taken

much time and dedication from you and your

families. A huge well done to everyone, and

congratulations!

CongratulationsCongratulations

White Ribbon AmbassadorWe are very proud that one of our mentors,Jury-Field, was recently nominated by Family Violence Response Co-ordinator Lee Haskel for the role of White Ribbon Ambassador for New Plymouth. Male ambassadors play a vital role in building support, visibility and developing a shared understanding of the White Ribbon campaign within their social groups, workplaces and communities. Ambassadors are chosen to embody the principles of the campaign, their willingness to challenge the behaviour of abusive men, and to convey key messages directly to their communities. Many high profile people in business and politics are represented as ambassadors at the national level including Prime Minister John Key, Hone Kaa, Reuben Wiki, MPJonathan Young, Labour candidate Andrew Little, Phil Kingsley-Jones and singer Stan Walker. Apart from Stan Walker, Lee felt that the young male demographic was not represented particularly at the local level and she nominated Kallum because he is young; he is in a vital front-line position dealing with vulnerable clients on a

Kallum

Monthly MeetNew Plymouths last Monthly Meet for 2011 is on Tuesday Dec 6th, at 7.00 pm at the Tasman Club in Octavius Place. Stratford’s last one for the year will be on Mon 5 Dec 7.00 pm, in the Stratford Primary School staffroom. Although these meetings are not compulsory, we do encourage you to attend, it’s great to be able to learn from other mentors by sharing your experiences, and in some cases your resources. Our December meet is also a good time to celebrate another wonderful year that we have had here at Big Brothers Big Sisters. See you there!

National ConferenceWe had a great time at our National Conference this month, and we were shown wonderful hospitality by our Hamilton crew. We were exceptionally lucky to have two fantastic key note speakers attending, Judge Andrew Becroft, who is the Principle Youth Court Judge, and Nathan Mikaere-Wallis, who is a lecturer on Child Development at the Christchurch College of Education, and also a member of the Brain Waves Trust. Nathan shared some insightful research on brain development in children, which was not only relevant to our roles, but also very fascinating! Judge Becroft spoke on youth offending and the effectiveness of some of the interventions currently being used. Interestingly, mentoring was a positive outcome from both speakers perspective, and to quote Judge Becroft “Mentors are builders of resilience in young people”, so although we see this daily, it’s always really great to have research to support this. The c o n f e r e n c e was a good mix of learning best p r a c t i c e , s h a r i n g n e w i d e a s , a n d understanding t h e l a t e s t r e s e a r c h o n mentoring - we all came away inspi red and motivated. Sara Bright, our Coordinator, received the Big Brothers Big Sisters National Board’s Commendation award for 2011, which she was very proud to accept. Congratulations Sara!

Lois & Dennis with their new little brother, Trei - CB, NP

INFORMATIVE SNIPPETSMaking the Time – Sometimes it just seems impossible to wedge one more activity into your schedule. But being a mentor doesn't necessarily need to become a burden in your life. Being a mentor is about more than going on a special outing, it's about spending time together and being part of each other's lives. For some mentee's, joining you in your everyday activities may not be so 'everyday' to them – these activities may be a rare exposure to a different kind of lifestyle or provide interesting opportunities to learn new skills. You can still designate special time for fun activities that you and your mentee enjoy together, but if your schedule is tight at the m o m e n t , s p e n d i n g t i m e together while completing daily tasks can help avoid cancelling your outings or making your mentee feel you do not have time for them. Try including your mentee in ordinary activities like preparing a meal, where you can shop, cook and eat together! Or exercising – modelling healthy physical activity is a great way to teach your mentee the importance of exercise, or even projects around the house – your mentee can acquire valuable skills from doing this. For some of the more mundane tasks you may want to have a bite to eat or play a board game so the mentee feels some 'fun' was thrown into the mix.

Are We Having Fun Yet? – This isn't how you pictured your relationship with your mentee turning out. She was supposed to burst out the door with excitement every time you picked her up! There may be a number of reasons that your mentee doesn't appear to find your time together as enjoyable as you hoped. Some of those reasons

will have nothing to do with you. And, be aware that you can't necessarily judge the impact of your efforts by your mentee's outward reaction – staff often get a very different story relayed to them by the mentee, or their parent, and you may be surprised to hear how much your mentee has enjoyed themselves. If you are unsure on the 'fun' factor, please contact your case manager, they will have ideas and suggestions

as to how to help, and will reassure you that you are on the right track!

The World Festival of Magic ShowThe Egmont Lions Club of New Plymouth have kindly given Big Brothers Big Sisters tickets to the World Festival of Magic Show on Wednesday 7 December 2011, starting at 5.00pm. The festival is a 90 minute long family orientated magic show. Please RSVP to Shannon via email on: shannon.bbbstaranaki@xtra.co.nz or tel: 06 759 8861 by Thursday 1 December if you and your young person are interested in attending.

Hydro SlidesNPDC and the Aquatic Centre have kindly given all BBBS mentors and their little brothers and little sisters free access to the hydro slides from the 17th Dec until school starts again. Please show your ID on entry and the staff will give you a wristband to wear showing your eligibility. Please take care if you or your young person use the turbo slide, we have it on good authority that it is very fast - and very dark!

day to day basis (Kallum works at Work and Income) and he is highly regarded by peers and management alike for his leadership qualities. We couldn’t agree more with Lee, Kallum is a wonderful mentor to his mentee Brayden, who he has been matched with for over 2 years now.

Quote of the month:

'It is in the moments of decision your

destiny is created' - Anthony Robbins