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** All photos are included with consent
Happy 2023!
It's been a while, hasn't it?
Did you miss us?
The first thing I wanted to update you on, is that we'll be moving from monthly to seasonal ACP updates. Introducing...ACP: Seasons! Our volunteer authors are living their best, busy lives - so this is a way to accommodate them with less pressure; and considering we're already 3 months (?!) into the year, it just makes sense to go another 3 months!
So what have you missed since our last ACP newsletter?
There has been a lot going on in the background at AmeCare, that everyone can hopefully reap the benefits of in the coming months.
There were a lot of ups and downs in 2022, and staff changeovers was one of the hurdles we had to overcome. Not to mention this whole ordeal with Cause.
"Wasn't that supposed to happen ages ago?" Great question! We want to reassure you that the project is still on track, and our side of the paperwork has been completed.
AmeCare & Arnica Community Care are very excited to launch our new model of care that we think will be an innovative and affordable solution for community housing. This project has been more than 18 months in the making and we are just waiting on our final seal of approval. This means we are waiting on the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) to finalize the application - which we have been promised will be done by Friday 10th March!
Unfortunately, the delay in finalizing things has led to some confusion and insecurity - which we sincerely apologize for.
So, our aim at the moment is increasing stability and maintaining the trust of the participants who choose us to help support them. Sometimes, things are beyond our control. One thing remains certain, though, that we want you to feel valued and to understand that we appreciate everyone who considers & chooses AmeCare to support them.
This edition of ACP is created in memory of long-term author and friend, Daniel Warren.
 |  | ** View the video with music on our Instagram page |
Dan and his family have been an important part of Arnica and AmeCare since their beginnings 12 years ago; he will be dearly missed. He was full of light, love, and laughter and never said a bad word about anyone.
Dan was a spiritual person and we believe he has gained his wings and is flying high with the angels.
Dan's celebration of life was held on Friday 6th January, in Diamond Creek. As he would have wanted, everyone attending celebrated his life in colour - his favourite colours were Yellow and Green, and he was a mad Collingwood supporter.
Rest in peace, Dan 💚💛🤍🖤
Daniel found a lot of peace and solace in nature, so in dedication to him, we will be naming the courtyard at Cause "Warren Gardens".
Daniel was altruistic, enjoyed being a peer support person, and was a strong advocate for the power of art therapy, crystal healing, meditation, and being in nature.
Our hope is that his legacy will live on in the flowers that bloom there, the butterflies that are drawn there; where he can inspire residents to find their own peace and solace there.
Donations received by purchasing (click here) Dan's poetry chatbook, 'Peaces of Dan', will go towards funding & maintaining Warren Gardens.
You can read or add tributes and memories for Dan and his family at this link.
A big
December | 15th - Clinton 15th - Grace C 3rd - Lauren |
January | 20th - Denis 10th - Michelle C 25th - Nick 6th - Leila 1st - Suniyo 10th - Joan 10th - Kevin |
February | 13th - Sujan 9th - Yanie 1st - Sylvia K 28th - Franklin 18th - Violeta |
March | 25th - Chiedozie 12th - Christianna 12th - Joe J 24th - Abod 24th - Don |
We wrapped up 2022 on the 20th of December with our annual end-of-year holiday party, at one of the Bundoora Park gazebos. It was a bittersweet day, as we found out Dan had passed away the day before. We framed a picture of Dan and had a shrine of crystals so that he could be with us in spirit. We also had a few of his long-term friends release balloons in some of his favourite colours (Green, Orange, and Purple) as a tribute. The sun was definitely out and shining for us on the day, and we enjoyed lunch with platters that each guest brought along. Annie's partner, Joel, is a performer by trade and was kind enough to come along and teach us some hula-hooping! This got everyone up and moving, and laughing! We also had a Bluetooth speaker with music which everyone enjoyed having a boogie to. A highlight was definitely when a large group of us became Joel's back-up dancers (see photo), with Annie choreographing moves for us to copy. Thank you to everyone who attended, and special thanks to Michelle C from head office for her efforts in organising the day! It was a wonderful way to come together and wrap up 2022, and set a great foundation for togetherness in 2023 😊 |
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An Interview with Homer, by Emmy
What is your favourite colour? | Yellow |
What is your favourite food? | Spaghetti Bolognaise |
Favourite activity? | Basketball |
Favourite movie, music genre or TV show? | My all time favourite movie is Dirty Dancing. I am an RNB fan too! |
Favourite memory from 2022? | My birthday, I went out to Melbourne Central to see a movie. |
Favourite animal? | Wooly mammoth |
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and what would you do? | Glastonbury in England. I would explore all the old castles and museums. |
Instead of a photo, Homer wanted to include a picture of this pride flag!
An Interview with Matt D, by Christian
What is your favourite colour? | Dark blue |
What is your favourite food? | Anything edible! |
Favourite animal? | Cat |
Favourite past holiday? | Going up to Mount Beauty with Dad |
Favourite activity? | Socialising with friends at my group program on Wednesdays |
Favourite movie? | American Pie |
Favourite music genre? | Rock |
Favourite memory from 2022? | Helping out Peter with maintenance tasks |
Digital Art by @tmillerartistdesign
Joseph's CWA Talk
On the seventh of February , I went with Patrick to the Country Women’s Association (CWA) in Donvale, to present a talk to the members about the Kevin Heinze program in Doncaster. Patrick works at Kevin Heinze Grow and used to work with me in the nursery every Tuesday. I now work in the Kevin Heinze Grow nursery every single Tuesday in my job as nursery hand. This job involves serving some customers as well. I also work on the ‘Grow on the Go’ program every second Thursday and also participate in the ‘Heide’ museum program on the alternating Thursday.
Patrick and myself set off from Kevin Heinze Grow in the afternoon after we had eaten our lunch. The aim of the talk to the CWA in Donvale was to inform them about the ‘Kevin Heinze ‘ program in Doncaster and what it offers the participants and support workers as well as the wider Melbourne community.
We arrived at the Country Women’s Association at one o’clock in the afternoon and were both greeted by two women who told us to take a seat. We only had to wait for about ten minutes, before Patrick was called up to the front of the room and introduced himself. He started talking about the Kevin Heinze program and what it offers before taking questions from the audience. It was funny because every time that the members of the CWA asked their questions they started directing their questions towards me as I sat at the back of the room. Then Patrick said Joseph you may as well come up to the front of the room with him and start answering questions.
I then explained that I was involved with ‘The Grow On The Go’ program every second Thursday of the month where I go around the wider Melbourne community with a ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ support worker and another ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ participant and work on people’s gardens.
I told them that I am also involved in the ‘Heide’ museum /art gallery program on the second Thursday of every month. This involves working on the gardens at ‘Heide’ museum.
Patrick asked Joseph how many years has he been coming to ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ as a participant. I told them that I had been coming for a period of two and a half years. I told them that I participate in an art program at the ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ site every Friday morning for one and a half hours from eleven o’clock in the morning until twelve thirty in the afternoon.
Patrick was also asked a question from one of the audience members; the question was ‘How old is the oldest participant that attends Kevin Heinze Grow in Doncaster’ Then Patrick told the audience members that there is a man called Michael, a participant at ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ who is seventy years old.
Patrick asked Joseph what is the most important thing that you have learnt while you have been coming to ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ in the last two and a half years’. I said that 'the most important thing that I had learnt was that you are part of a team and since you are part of a team, you can not let the team down’.
Patrick told the members that ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ also offers a ‘Grow Glen Ira’ program, and a young teenagers program as well - a program for school leavers who are interested in horticulture and might be thinking of coming to join up with ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’.
I told CWA members that I was also involved in a ‘Relationships Group’ on the site on a Friday afternoon , from three o’clock until four thirty in the afternoon. I also informed them that there is a men’s program on a Tuesday afternoon from three o’clock until four thirty in the afternoon. I told them that there is also a Women’s program on another day of the week.
The CWA members asked us to be some of the judges in their flower making competition. The time was a quarter to two on this particular Tuesday afternoon and we told them that it has been an absolute pleasure to be able to do the talk to them but it was time to head home. The members all stood up and gave us a big round of applause.
The Country Women’s Association had kindly put on an afternoon tea this particular afternoon, especially for us. We had slices of cake to eat and coffees to drink. We also answered a few more questions from the members of the Country Women’s Association while having the afternoon tea. There was this one particular woman who had a daughter with high functioning autism who went to mainstream school but was picked on a lot. She is still able to hold down a job but gets picked on in the job. The woman said whilst she is very proud of her daughter she doesn’t like her daughter her being picked on the way she is. I told the woman that it is horrible to be picked on but told her daughter to hang in there. This particular woman was very interested in the ‘Kevin Heinze Program’ and I told the her that it is non-judgmental and no one gets picked on there. Then we said our goodbyes to everyone and hoped to see them around.
Then we packed up and went back to ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ site in Doncaster. Patrick told the CWA members that he would be back at the CWA headquarters during the week to drop off some promotional brochures.
On the way back to Patrick’s car, Patrick gave me a high five and said to ‘Put it there mate’. Patrick was absolutely stoked with how the talk went and that the it could not have gone along any better.
When we got back to the ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ site in Doncaster we walked into the office and told everyone how the talk went because everyone wanted to know. We both told them that the talk went along the best that we could ever have hoped for with no glitches. We said we had received only positive comments from the members when we were talking to them, over our afternoon tea. The ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ office administration staff were so thrilled for us. Anita, one of the office staff told me it sounded like that the talk was a real success.
The time was two thirty in the afternoon and my day at ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ was officially over - ‘Done and Dusted’ as I like to say. I then went to the bathroom to get changed for indoor cricket before being picked up by my support worker.
Hopefully we can get a few members from the CWA association coming to the ‘Kevin Heinze Grow Autumn Fair’.
I would like to thank Patrick from ‘ Kevin Heinze Grow’ for giving the talk with me and also like ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ overall for giving me the opportunity to give this talk at the Country Women’s Association in Donvale.
HAPPY WORLD PRIDE 2023!
Mardi Gras is often referred to as "Queer Christmas" by people in the LGBTQIA+ community, and this year it is also a part of World Pride (taking place in Sydney from 17th February to 5th March 2023).
*SOGIESC = Sexual Orientations, Gender Identities and Expressions, and Sex Characteristics
Throughout World Pride there are 200+ brilliant and diverse LGBTQIA+ community events, that are expected to draw crowds of over 500,000 people! Some of the events on offer are:
The Opening and Closing Concerts at The Domain
A Human Rights Conference
Pride March across the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Bondi Beach Party
First Nations Gala Concert
Pride Villages, closing streets in the heartland of LGBTQIA+ Sydney – Oxford Street – for street stalls, art and community parties.
A full arts and culture program
WorldPride Sports
Mardi Gras Parade & After Party
Fair Day
Sissy Ball
You can have a look at what's on offer here:
Most of the big, live events/concerts are available to stream on ABC iView.
You can also follow @sydneyworldpride on social media for more content.
SOME HISTORY
WorldPride is global event licensed by InterPride*, which is awarded to a different host city every 2-3 years.
** InterPride was founded by Marsha H Levine and the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Pride Coordinators (USA) in 1982, and has grown into a global network of over 400 LGBTQIA+ member organisations from over 70 counties.
The first WorldPride took place in Rome in July 2000, followed by Jerusalem (2006), London (2012), Toronto (2014), Madrid (2017), New York (2019) and Copenhagen + Malmo (2021).
In 2019, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras was successful in winning the bid to host WorldPride in Sydney in 2023, having competed against Houston, USA and Montreal, Canada.
Not only does Sydney WorldPride represent the first time the event will be staged in the southern hemisphere, but the 2023 festival coincides with:
the 50th anniversary of the first Australian Gay Pride Week,
the 45th anniversary of the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, and
the fifth anniversary of Marriage Equality in Australia.
Have your own getaway!
Submit an enquiry:
Click on the images below to check out participants' products!
Buy a lovely candle or gift hamper...  | Invest in some handmade bookmarks...  |
Listen to Sarah's original song...  | Check out Deb's song recommendations...  |
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