Vinnies Raise Over $150 through selling lemonade at school

   After three weeks of making and selling good old-fashioned lemonade at school the St. Joseph Vinnies have made over $150 to purchase the Above Rubies paper bead jewelry for the mothers Loaves and Fishes look after as Christmas presents. A huge thank you to all those in the school community who got in and supported our efforts with this project.

   Next week we are going to be having local practice nurse, Jo Watts coming to talk to the Vinnies about the work she does over in the Philippines assisting with the Above Rubies livelihood project for single mothers and widows. We look forward to using the money we have raised to purchase our gifts. 

Lemonade Selling a Success!!!

   There’s an old saying which states, “When life hands you lemons, turn it into lemonade” and that’s exactly what the St. Joseph Vinnies got underway in doing on Monday 11 November to raise funds in order to purchase Christmas presents for the mothers of the families that Loaves and Fishes look after. The gifts the Vinnies have in mind is a piece of Above Rubies jewelry for each of the mothers made by single mothers and widows in the Philippines. The paper bead jewelry provides an income for these Filipino women offering them both hope and dignity.

   The middle school syndicate at St. Joseph’s school have also come to the party and through the disco they will be having will be collecting Christmas presents to be distributed to the children in these struggling families as well.

   The first day selling lemonade was a great success – in fact so successful we ran out of lemonade before reaching the end of the line of those cuing for a refreshing drink. We will be once again selling lemonade again next Monday (18 November) so definitely be in quick!  

Laundry Detergent Kits for Thursday Community

   As part of our outreach this year to assist the families of the Thursday Community which Loaves and Fishes look after, we made laundry detergent kits for the families. Although Loaves and Fishes provide meals for these families and there are food banks that also assist families in providing non-perishable food items, basic needs such as laundry detergent for washing clothes can sometimes be overlooked. The laundry detergent kits are one way that we are able to meet these needs.

   Pictured are only three of the many kits made up in order for each family to receive one.

Vinnies Work Towards a Fairer Deal as part of Social Justice Week

   During Term 3, the St. Joseph Vinnies have spent time focusing on the theme of Social Justice Week – Meaningful Work for the Young Worker. The term kicked off by looking at the skills and talents that the Vinnies have and how they can use these skills and talents to assist other people. The unit of work then took into account the Bill of Rights for Children leading into discussion of what we felt should be the rights of all workers. In learning about the work of Fair Trade we discovered that children’s rights let alone the rights of workers are not given the same consideration in other countries as what they are here. As two of the Vinnies wrote, “In 2005, the International Labour Organisation claimed that there were over150,000 children working in horrible conditions in the Ivory Coast of Africa. This is one of the things that the Fair Trade Company hopes to stop and we fully support it in any way we can.”

   One way that the St. Joseph Vinnies found of supporting the work of Fair Trade is by using Fair Trade Cocoa Powder and Cane Sugar to make chocolate biscuits. The chocolate biscuits that we created were able to be presented to Mary Sullivan from Loaves and Fishes along with homemade soap that the St. Joseph Vinnies had also made this term. Mary will distribute the soap and chocolate biscuits to the Thursday Community that comprises of struggling families that Loaves and Fishes supports. The St. Joseph Vinnies also entered their baking into the Fair Trade Big Fair Bake Competition in the hope that should we win the Fair Trade ingredients and kitchen equipment up for grabs this can be donated to Loaves and Fishes as well.

   As part of the St. Joseph Vinnies Social Justice Week Focus, John Marshall from Fair Trade was able to share with us further information about the work of Fair Trade and a Social Justice Week display of the Vinnies work was put up on display at school. 

Vinnies Present Talking Book Resource to Gill

 

 On Monday 1 July, Gill Clayton came to talk to us about being blind. Gill became blind as an adult due to health-related complications. She was able to share with us about overcoming this disability and the resources she has that help her to lead as ordinary a life as possible. Gill gratefully received the talking book resource that we were able to present to her.  Gill intends distributing the talking book resource to other people who are blind both in our local area and nationally. 

Vinnies Present Placemats to Red Cross

   One of the many talents the St. Joseph Vinnies have amongst the virtues of compassion and empathy for others is their ability to transform their ideas into artistic and creative masterpieces and that’s exactly what they achieved when creating beautiful placemats for Meals-on-wheels recipients.

   There to be presented with the placemats on the 17 June was Megan Riddell, Red Cross Coordinator. Megan was able to share with those who haven’t done Meals-on-Wheels before what this task entails. She also informed us about the various ways that Red Cross assists people in the community. Megan will ensure that our beautiful placemats will be distributed to people who meals-on-wheels assists.

Bottle Stuffing Party at Victory Community Centre

   On Saturday 11 May, a couple of the St. Joseph Vinnies participated in the Bottle Stuffing Party at Victory Community Centre which was part of Youth Week activities.

   The Bottle Stuffing Party was a great opportunity to transform waste into a Pizza Oven Base and Bench at Victory Garden. This is an initiative that has taken off in many countries around the world inspired by the Peace On Earthbench Movement (POEM). To find out more information about the fantastic initiative, check out http://www.earthbench.org.