Did you know… * The Germans made the first artificial Christmas trees out of dyed goose feathers. * Each year more than 3 billion Christmas cards are sent in the U.S. alone. * All the gifts in the Twelve Days of Christmas would equal 364 gifts. * The traditional three colours of Christmas are green, red, and gold. Green has long been a symbol of life and rebirth; red symbol-ises the blood of Christ, and gold represents light as well as wealth and royalty. * Mistletoe (Viscum album) is from the Anglo-Saxon word misteltan, which means “little dung twig” be-cause the plant spreads through bird droppings. * The first printed reference to a Christmas tree was in 1531 in Germany.

HHRCS NEWSLETTER

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

42 - 46 Gladesville Road Hunters Hill NSW 2110

Volume 8, Issue 4 ISSN 1449-745X

October - December 2015

GREETINGS TO ALL from THE HHRCS BOARD and STAFF

May 2016 bring PEACE

Inside this issue:

* General Manager 1

* Annual Bus Outing * Spanish Seniors

2

* Pittwater Rd Gardens * Food Service

3

* St Ignatius Students * Quality Review

4

* Tour de Hunters Hill 5

* Riverside Girls High * Christmas in the City

6

Carers Weekend 7

* 9 letter word * Sudoku * Donations

8

Happy Holiday Season 2015 has been a year of many different activities for HHRCS. To start the year we ran a stakeholder focus group to establish our values. Values are important to define and guide everything HHRCS does. HHRCS invited members of our community and representatives came from The HunterMo-tive group, Hunters Hill Council, Home Instead Senior Care, Housing NSW, clients, volunteers and carers. Through the Stakeholder Values Fo-cus group and Staff Focus group the following values Respect, Empower-ment, Diversity, Inclusion and Quality were established for HHRCS. This year HHRCS has been through Third Party verification and in June 2015 successfully met the intent of the NSW Disability Service Standards. Then in November we underwent the Australian Aged Care Quality Review and HHRCS met all the standards, as well as doing well in our annual financial and risk management audit. So I can confidently say HHRCS is living up to its value “Quality”. Events are an important part of the HHRCS calendar and “Things that make your heart sing” the Affordable Pop Up Art Gallery at the Gladesville Shopping Village in September was a success; feedback from the commu-nity was overwhelmingly positive. Fifty nine artists entered artworks and 29 sold at least one piece of artwork and approximately 1000 people visited the gallery.

HHRCS staff and volunteers had a fun day volunteering for the Tour de Hunters Hill. It was a great morning where neighbours and local busi-nesses came together and enjoyed the beautiful weather and scenery Hunters Hill has to offer. A big thank you to the 50 volunteers, event organ-iser Elizabeth Krassoi and the event sponsors Ward Partners Hunters Hill, Discover Hunters Hill and Eurocycles on making the worthy event possi-ble. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our clients who utilise HHRCS services. We look forward to working with you in 2016. Thank you also to our wonderful volunteers and staff, you have made all these activities possible. Your energy and passion means HHRCS will continue to care for our community and we look forward to celebrating our 50th anniversary in 2016. On behalf of the Board of Management, the Staff and Volunteers I would like to wish everyone a happy holiday season. Anna Buddo General Manager

Page 2 HHRCS NEWSLETTER

ANNUAL BUS OUTIING On Monday 16 November members from the Volunteer Visiting and Community Visitors Scheme got together for their annual bus outing. This year they travelled to Palm beach by bus to hop on the ferry to Ettalong followed by a leisurely walk along the beach to the Ettalong Diggers Club. The weather was in their favour - it was a fantastic day with lots of chatting, sharing ideas and news. It was a wonderful opportunity for ‘’Team Building’’ and a great way to acknowledge the great efforts of our volunteers during the past year.

We would like to thank City of Ryde Council for funding this event for our volunteers.

“We wish to thank you most sincerely for the wonderful day yesterday.

We were blessed with fantastic weather and great company. We were both very relaxed, enjoyed our meal and exploring beautiful Ettalong......John was an excellent driver.”

Coral and Cathy

THE SPANISH SENIORS DAY TOUR

The Spanish Seniors travelled to the Cen-tral Coast for the day.

We had morning tea at Mt. Penang Water-fall cafe. Clients were relaxed and we spent much time outdoors appreciating the beauti-ful warm weather. Some walked in the gardens of Mt Penang and enjoyed the plants and the sculptures.

Page 3 Volume 8, Issue 4

PITTWATER ROAD GARDENS  

184a Pittwater Road gardeners were thrilled to participate in the City of Ryde Council Community Gardening competition this year receiving first place in the Community Garden category . The Pittwater gardeners have worked hard on improvements throughout the year and are keen to make the garden a beautiful area for all the residents to enjoy. This was a wonderful recognition of their efforts. Additionally one of the resident gardeners, Mrs On Sook Jun, a keen gardener all her life and now growing many delicious Korean vegetables, was awarded second place in the Edible Garden category. The judges were very impressed with Mrs Jun's gardening Techniques - including her crop rotation, growing from seed and her wonderful home made trellising. These gardening activities are provided through our Social Support Program with help from the Royal Botanic Gardens Community Greening Coordinator, Phil Pettitt who provides us with ideas, resources and plenty of enthusiasm.  

 

FOOD SERVICES SUMMER RANGE - Available Now! Fresh to our kitchen – delivery or pick up

Popular with our clients to support eating during these warmer months

> Salads - choice of cold meats Supper pack - includes assortment of fillings & cake Finger food pack – perfect for a bit at a time

Frozen and chilled main meals Petite meals

Desserts

Complimentary juice, cheese and crackers

HHRCS Food Services delivers meals to local residents of the Hunters Hill and Ryde areas. Our meal deliveries can make life easier, enable you to remain living in your own home; support your lifestyle of choice.

HHRCS is a member of Meals on Wheels NSW

Left: What a beautiful display Below: Collecting First Prize Right: Mrs On Sook Jun and her husband

Page 4 HHRCS NEWSLETTER

AUSTRALIAN AGED CARE QUALITY REVIEW On Wednesday 11th November HHRCS underwent the Australian Aged Care Quality Review. HHRCS was measured against the following three standards: Effective Management, 8 expected outcomes all met Appropriate Access and Service Delivery, 5 expected outcomes all met Service User Rights and Responsibilities, 5 expected outcomes all met The reviewers conducted interviews with 27 Clients, 6 Carers, 9 Volunteers, 5 Care Workers, 5 Coordinators, 1 Bus Driver, 2 Team Leaders, the President and the General Manager. The quality reviewers told management that client stories about the positive impact HHRCS had made on their

lives almost moved them to tears. They described HHRCS volunteers as passionate and the staff as “a crazy bunch but it all works”. As the General Manager I would like to thank everyone from HHRCS involved in the Australian Aged Care Quality Review as they put in a huge amount of work. I am very proud of HHRCS meeting all the outcomes for each standard; staff really deserved this result as a reward for their ongoing passion and energy. Anna Buddo General Manager

SAINT IGNATIUS COLLEGE STUDENTS SUPPORT HHRCS This year a group of students from Saint Ignatius College, Riverview marked Saint Ignatius' Feast Day by collecting food items for our Hardship Assistance Program. Students from Fernando House got together and prepared over 40 family sized food parcels. Each parcel was filled with non-perishable food items sufficient for 5 good family meals. The students made sure that each parcel included a small luxury item such as a jar of Nutella or a packet of sweet biscuits. On average, we provide 25 food parcels each month and would not be able to continue without the gen-erosity and dedication of our com-munity. As one of our food parcel recipients said: “Be sure to thank the kiddies.” HHRCS Board of Management and staff are thankful for the support of the Riverview College students, teachers and parents.

Page 5 Volume 8, Issue 4

TOUR DE HUNTERS HILL 2015 On 11 November 2015 HHRCS staff and volunteers, supported by a generous donation from Mathew Ward of Ward Partners, participated in the first Hunters Hill cycling event of this kind. This family friendly cycling event started and finished on the lawns of the historic Priory Riverglade Reserve. The Tour is the brain child of a local entrepreneur and our supporter, Elizabeth Krassoi of Eurocy-cles who saw an opportunity to mobilise our community for a good cause as a part of Sydney Cy-cling Festival. Over 180 riders and picnickers raised much needed funds - $2000 for Hunters Hill Ryde Community Services. The funds collected on the day are going towards organising a 10 week long cooking workshop which will teach people with limited cooking skills to prepare nutritious and scrumptious meals for themselves and perhaps their friends. The $5 donation to HHRCS included:

Registration for the race; Local passport of vouchers and offers to enjoy; Free bike tune ups on the day; Weekly cycling tips from some of Sydney’s experts in touring, bike repair, fitness and cycling advocacy and Full logistical support, ride guides, marshals, first aid.

A big thank you to the students from Saint Ignatius College and Meadowbank TAFE who were marshals on the course. STAIN Café and Fruit @ Hunters Hill were there to provide the event goers with much needed nour-ishment and coffee. At our stall we provided refreshing lemonade and smoothies; these were very popular particularly with our young riders. The biggest attraction was our man-powered blenders. That’s right; we got our customers to work for their smoothies! Rotary Club of Hunters Hill brought us Frisbee Golf - check out our Facebook page for a short film showcasing exactly what Frisbee Golf is!

We are hoping that next year we will welcome even more riders and raise even more funds. See you at the 2016 Tour de Hunters Hill!

Branka Ivkovic Social Support Team Leader

Above: What a beautiful day Top Right: Cutting up fruits for smoothies Right: Peddling fast to blend the smoothie

Page 6 HHRCS NEWSLETTER

CHRISTMAS IN THE CITY Through the Christmas season Sydney Town Hall and St Mary’s Cathedral will once again be adorned with colourful, festive illuminations and the sounds of carols will ring through-out the city with street choirs performing every night. The program of events also includes Village Christmas Concerts in Rushcutters Bay, Rosebery, Alexandria and Surry Hills, with live entertainment, carols, kids’ craft activities and special visits from Santa. There will be over one hundred live Christmas trees lining Pitt Street Mall while 62,000 white lights twinkle overhead. The trees will be auctioned during Christmas week with all proceeds going to City of Sydney Christmas charity partner, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT.

Extract—Clover’s eNews PS: Hope you went to Hunters Hill Carols in the Park on Sunday 6 December. Santa, fireworks, food stalls for picnickers. Family fun was had by all.

RIVERSIDE GIRLS HIGH - DAY CENTRE CONCERT A mixed group of Day Centre clients from the Tuesday Ladies Group and Men About Town enjoyed a concert presented by Year 10 music students from Riverside Girls High School. Students performed a variety of songs vocally and with guitar and piano. The talented students were complimented by clients and staff alike. This is the second year that the girls from Riverside have performed for the Day Centre. I would like to thank Clarina Wang, music teacher, and Day Centre staff for initiating and fostering this relationship with HHRCS which provides opportunities both for the students and our clients. While clients enjoy the performances students are able to experience performing in front of ‘strangers’ as they hone their skills. The relationship between HHRCs and Riverside Girls High further developed this year with students becoming involved in a food drive for the HHRCS Hardship Assistance Program. We look forward to working further with the school and students in 2016.

Page 7 Volume 8, Issue 4

A WEEKEND AWAY Twelve carers, ten from the YADs (Young Adults With Disabilities) group and two from ABISS (Acquired Brain Injury, Spinal and Stroke) group enjoyed a relaxing weekend at Abernethy House, with thanks to Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club for their generosity in funding this break. The group arrived Friday afternoon, giving time to unpack and settle. In the evening after cleaning up from a delicious dinner it was time for games. This is something this group excels at!

Saturday morning, the group were transported to Golden Door Health Retreat and Spa Elysia, Pokolbin where they enjoyed a spa treatment of their choice. This was then followed by free time and games during the evening. Unfortunately, Saturday midnight one of the carers received a call and had to rush back to Sydney to attend to her mother. Sunday, before heading back to their responsibilities as carers, the group enjoyed a two-course lunch at Hope Estate

All decided next year they would like, if possible, to extend their stay by one night. The feed-back was very positive. Some of the comments were: “The day spa was a huge success and no complaints with the amount of food supplied. An enjoyable experience all round.” “Can choose to join in or be by yourself, so well looked after by the Carer Support Worker who is very responsive to our needs.” “My experience of the weekend was very pleasant and fun!”

Rosemary Liu

Carers Support Coordinator

42 - 46 Gladesville Road Hunters Hill NSW 2110

Phone: 9817 0101

Fax: 9816 5462 Email: office1@hhrcs.org.au Website: www.hhrcs.org.au

Newsletter Editor: Janice Lee

Volunteer - HHRCS Admin

9 LETTER WORD Word: sometimes needed around the house

Can you make more than 20 words? (must always use central letter; have more than 4 letters; no proper

nouns and one word must use all 9 letters) On-line www.nineletterword.tompaton.com

SUDOKU To solve a Sudoku puzzle you have to use the numbers 1 - 9 to fill in the blank squares so that each row, column and each 3 x 3 square has all the numbers 1 – 9 appearing only once.

Puzzle on-line www.sudokukingdom.com

T  M  O 

G  S  N 

N  R  A 

5 1

8 2 3 5

6 3 7 4

6 4

4 1 2 8

1 5 2 3 9

2 9 7

9 5 4 2

8 3 4 9

DONATIONS - PLEASE HELP This time your donations will go towards our Hardship Assistance Program . Your donation, no matter how small, does make a difference. It will help us to purchase non perishable food items for the food parcels we supply to those in need. or Perhaps you’d like to donate some food items - just drop them in to our office. To make a donation - please make cheques payable to: Hunters Hill Ryde Community Services (mail or drop in to us at: 46 Gladesville Road, Hunters Hill 2110) or Direct Debit: SBS 062182 A/c1009 2603 - for Description please quote: Your surname/Donation (please email us to let us know you’ve made a direct deposit: office1@hhrcs.org.au)

Hunters Hill Ryde Community Services acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land, including the Wallumedegal Clan on which our premises are located. We pay our respect to the Elders both past and present and extend that respect to other Indigenous Australians living in the area.