Greetings to all readers, far and wide, from the March 2023 edition of the Lively Gazette!
Welcome to the monthly home of all things Lively - whether it be the micro stories of Helper/Member duos in the garden and on the books, or the macro stories of organisational operations! Additionally, the March edition brings the follow up to December with the final four operational Helper Pokémon info cards released.
As we say farewell to what was left of a turbulent Melbourne summer, the cooler temperatures may encourage more of you dear readers to try your hand at your own gardens or cosying up with a cup of tea and a book in an armchair. I’m certainly hoping to try both these exercises in the months to come. We would love for Members to share some snaps of cosy moments with your Helpers in the months to come through this form here!
Whether inspired by the Lively Tales, intrigued by the Talking Point, or reflective from the Pearl of Wisdom and words from our HQers, we hope you enjoy this Gazette!
Helper Jessica & Member Frances’ days in the garden
“In today’s session, Frances and I started in the front garden. It was quite warm so we just did light tasks. We did some pruning, weeding and watering there before heading to the back garden. Out the back, we put down some wood chips on the cardboard mulch area we had created in our last two sessions. We finished up by repotting a lovely flower that is now sitting on the back table in Frances’ back garden.
I have attached a photo of one of the bushes we removed and how many roots it has!”
– Words from Lively Helper, Jessica
“I must say I appreciate the assistance & chats Jess & I share each fortnight.”
– Words from Lively Member, Frances
Helper Serena & Member Coral’s dabbles in philosophy
“We spent the first 20 minutes of our session catching up, chatting in her living room over a cup of tea. Then we spent an hour doing housework - me cleaning the bathroom & kitchen, while she did the living room & bedroom. We finished the session by searching up the VCE Philosophy Study Design on the Internet and printing. Once printed, I bound it for Coral. She has an interest in VCE Philosophy because her grandson, Jacob, has just started studying it.”
– Words from Lively Helper, Serena
“The reason that I am doing Philosophy is because my fifteen year old Grandson is doing it. I am a committed Christian and he does not believe in God. Philosophers believe that all things have matter. Certainly not believing in faith. I say to Jacob all the time, ‘You will be a Christian one day Jacob, you can’t escape, I pray for you every night and every morning.’ He laughs and gives me the thumbs up.”
– Words from Lively Member, Coral
Helper Kay & Member Noela
“Noela and I started our session by learning how to use her Samsung calendar on her phone. We practised how to add events, time, repeat patterns, notifications etc. We moved on to using the stopwatch function on the clock app. After that, I showed Noela how to sort downloaded documents on her tablet according to time, file type, size... and then renaming them. We also explored neighbourhood pages on Facebook for her local area Reservoir.”
– Words from Lively Helper, Kay
"I'm on my own, it feels like I'm part of the larger community and not isolated."
– Words from Lively Member, Noela
High Spirits at the Jean McKendry Neighbourhood Centre tech help sessions!
"Our sessions at Jean McKendry are officially finished and oh boy, what a great program! It’s been so lovely for us to get to know each of the Members who have come through. The sessions have been in high demand, with full bookings almost every week and some Members even choosing to share their sessions with other Members!
I wanted to share this photo I took of Janna, a Member I have been working with each week. We have had a lovely time in our sessions together, and a couple of weeks ago, she brought in a painting which she wanted some help getting a good photo of. She has shown me some of her other art as well and, I must say, she is an incredibly talented artist!
Thank you to Janna and all of our other awesome Members for making the past few months so enjoyable! :)"
– Words from Lively Helper, Hannah
Lively’s Operational Helpers: putting more faces to names
As some of you may have read in the December edition of the Lively Gazette here, Lively offers employment pathway opportunities for Helpers to gain experience in our organisation, beyond the Helper role. The first four positions were showcased in that edition, and now, we proudly present to you our final four superstar Helpers in these operational roles. We hope these introductions help you to put some faces to the incredible Helper names you may already know!
FREE Community Tech Help
"A bunch of our Lively Helpers have been busy delivering free tech help for local seniors in the City of Whittlesea and the City of Melbourne at libraries and community centres over the past couple of months.
From being able to connect with family and friends through texts and video calls, to
accessing online services and learning how to detect and avoid online scams, the participants are guided in a friendly and supportive manner by our Lively Helpers.
We were so happy to receive a thanks from our City of Melbourne partner contact, Natalie from the Ageing and Inclusion Team, for the way that our Helpers engaged with participants and helped them with their various questions and individual learning requirements during the 8 week program at the Jean McKendry Neighbourhood Centre in North Melbourne. A big shout out to Mahyar, Hannah, McKenna, Xinran, Harry and Wei-Ting for being such amazing tech allies to older City of Melbourne residents!
If you, or someone you know would like to access some free tech help on a mobile phone/tablet/laptop, please check out the dates in April for our workshops in Carlton. (See flyer.) "
– Words from Community Relations Builder, Sophia
Onboarding at Lively: our newest additions to the ranks
"As part of our March Helper Intake, we were super excited to welcome 6 spectacular new helpers to the fold at Lively! Issy (23), Cherry (24), Anna (22), Campbell (24), Rochelle (23) and Sophie (24) are ready and raring to go to start working with members. Lively's Helper Coordinator Robin had a fabulous time introducing these stars to the helper position, and was so inspired and excited by their energy, emotional maturity, resourcefulness and heart. We can't wait to see what great connections these helpers will form with their members, and the activities they'll get up to together!"
– Words from Helper Coordinator, Robin
Pictured L to R: Sophie, Rochelle, Campbell, Cherry, Anna, Issy.
Lively's service mix: help around the home on offer!
Over the years, Lively has gradually expanded the range of activities that Lively Helpers are trained and equipped to offer for our Members. So if you're a Lively Member or partner who started your journey with us some time ago, you might not be aware that Lively Helpers can also offer help around the home - think basic cleaning and laundry, or other jobs to keep the home feeling tidy safe and comfortable.
One of the great things about our Helpers is their flexibility to work through lots of different activities during the course of a regular 2-hour session. As an example, in one session a Member could enjoy their Helper's support with some vacuuming and to hang out the washing, before continuing some ongoing tech help, and then heading out to run some errands together. If you're a partner who would like to refer Members for help around the home, simply tick that box on our matching request form. And if you're a Member who would like to take advantage of this support from your Helper, just let your Helper or Case Manager know!
– Words from Community Relations Builder, Sophia
Funky shoes and socks for all!
"This month’s talking point is about the benefits of wearing funky socks (and shoes depending how committed you are!). Recently, while attending a session, my Member was wearing the best combination of funky shoes and socks I had ever seen - they put me to shame, even in my Finish Dishwasher pod socks, courtesy of my grandma (leftmost photo). The next week, she showcased her full collection (rightmost photo) - pretty incredible! This month, particularly as we move into the colder seasons, I invite all readers to send in photos of themselves in their best socks or cosy attire to display in next month’s Gazette here, and to read this cute article on the seven best reasons to wear funky socks."
– Words from Lively Helper, Serena
March Pearl of Wisdom
Are you a Member, Helper or Friend of Lively with a pearl of wisdom (life tip or inspiring quote) or any content ideas for the Lively Gazette that you’d like to share with us? We'd love your contribution! Please email us at stories@lively.org.au if you would like to feature anything in the next edition!
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