Stokes Valley Community Centre Inc
May 2002

Kia ora, Greetings, Whanau! Well here we are about to embark into May and I hear a whisper of "alreadys" around the room!

Life at our community centre has been busy as usual. We have numerous NEW ventures and initiatives that we look forward to you, Our Community, supporting. As we provide for you here our centre's daily events please remember that we are mostly a volunteer based organisation and with winter coming on people can be away sometimes with colds and things so please bare with us if we have to postpone events.

Monday is an opportunity to meet with our Mental health Consumers Union and friends for fellowship and a shared lunch. This starts at 10am and goes till 2pm. So come along to meet new friends or catch up with old ones and enjoy a shared meal while you're doing it.

Tuesday:
NEW! Our $2 dollar sell or swap group. The first date for our $2 dollar sell or swap club begins on Tuesday 14 May 2002 from 10am till 1pm.

The $2 sell or swap dollar club works like this: Each Tuesday (possibly Friday at a later date) you will have the opportunity to sell or swap any odds and ends. The rules are simple EVERYTHING must be $2 or less to buy or swap. For example you may wish to sell or swap four hair clips for $2 dollars or swap the hairclips for something of an equal value. Sound easy? It is! Each stall holder will make a donation of $2 to our community centre to cover any electricity or space used.

To register your interest please contact me at our centre. All people interested in holding a stall must be booked the Friday prior to each Tuesday meeting of the $2 dollar sell or swap club meet. This initiative is designed to assist people on a limited income and encourage the move towards self empowerment. Your support is very welcome.

NEW is our Beneficiaries Club which has its first meeting on Tuesday 30 April 2002 from 10am till 11am. Morning tea will be provided. The club will meet thereafter each Wednesday morning at 10am till 11am. This club is for all beneficiaries to come together and support each other towards employment or to support each other in fellowship. By sharing resources, ideas and energy all things are possible. Just come along and be a part of the fun!

Our Paralegal Course is still running and this begins at 2pm and goes till 4.30pm.

Wednesday is the day for our Artklub from 3.30pm till 6pm, plus we also have our Skate Park Action Group that meets fortnightly.

We have suspended meetings for the moment until we are able to present our ideas and needs before our Northern Ward Committee. Our meetings are from 4.30pm till 5.30pm at the very latest.

Thursday our day starts off with the 60s plus Friendship Group at 11.30am which goes till 2pm. There is a shared lunch. If you wish to attend please contact us at the centre.

Our Youth Group for 14 to 16 year olds begins at 5.30pm and goes till 7.30pm-8pm.

NEW! We are having a sleep over at our centre on Friday 10th May 2002. Cost is $5 per head from 6pm. Cost includes dinner and breakfast. The reason for our "noho" is to provide an opportunity and environment to establish a dialogue between youth on what they want to see happen for youth in Stokes Valley by way of entertainment and social support. Due to space restraints numbers are limited to 30 young people.

NEW! We are interested in hearing from any businesses who could be interested in increasing their business by offering discounts for our Youth Group. We are in the process of designing a Stokes Valley Youth Club identification card for our youth to have access to events at a reduced price as well as discounts from carefully selected outlets. So if you could be interested please contact me at the centre.

NEW! Youth Talent Quests - We are seeking to hold a series of "Youth" Talent Quests in Stokes Valley, primarily for our young people. However, youth from Naenae and Taita are very welcome. Please watch for our posters about the place.

Friday is the day for our Freefood run from 9am until Noon, thanks to St Vincent De Paulls. So come on in with your old shopping bags and grab some bread. We look forward to seeing you!

Please contact me if you have any notices you would like put up on our indoors noticeboard.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT! Watch out for vandals and taggers as our centre has been "bombed" several times in the last month and our outdoors noticeboard is looking a little worse for wear from constant vandalism. So please help us to help others by sharing in the care of our centre.

Till next time
Yours In Community
Janet Te Huia
Co-ordinator/Manager