A Time for Spoiling"FRom Little Things Big Things Grow".

LtoR me,Heather and Amber

Robyn,Me,Tanya

Every year our community group consisting of 5, ( we are small but size does not matter!),we spoil the seniors in our area.This day is approaching so fast this year that with 3 weeks to go it is time to pull all the stops out and bring the day together.

5 years ago we had an idea to give the elderly in the town a day of fun,setting up an old time Country Fair and giving them lunch and a nice day out. With only 3 of the 5 members able to do much we approached our local school.It just happens that the Catholic High School based itself in our little town but the students come from all the surrounding areas to it so it it a large school, we asked if there was anyway they could help us and so they came along the first year and we jointly got games together and the food,we had 57 oldies and it was a lovely day.

Now move forward 5 years and "from little things big things grow" we now have year 11 and 12 students doing all the cooking as part of their Higher School Certificate,the art students decorate the hall, the woodwork students make the games like Knock em Downs, Carpet Bowls runners,numerous things,the music department puts on the entertainment while the people have lunch caberet style and the talent never ceases to amaze me, the IT kids do all the Power Point work and photos on the day.We have gone from 57 to 140 seniors enjoying their day. The large supermarket in our nearest big town gives every person a tray of fruits of the season,we make showbags containing leaflets on services available,pens,pads(supplied by the banks) lollies and chips by the local travelling vendor,coffee vouchers from Mc Donalds and a wonderful bags of creams lip balms etc from our local Chemist, every person gets one of these , we have a Golden Goose( a stuffed toy goose sitting on 13 palstic eggs which open)these eggs contain good prizes first is $200 cash then there are hairdreser, butcher, grocer vouchers plus many more .

On top of that they get prizes galore for games like trivia,horse races run an a large screen,lucky chair,door etc.On arrival every senior person is allocated a"buddy" from years 7 to 9 and that child looks after the senior person all day getting them coffee helping them with lunch or games as many come on walkers, wheelchairs etc but we also have many very healthy ones so we make sure they are all safe.

We choose a "King and Queen of Aberdeen" and they receive a hand made quilt each made by my little quilt group(we call ourselves the Cackle Club),we choose someone who is lonely or had a sad year healthwise as there are many accolades for those that "DO" for others but nothing for the lonely or sad.The look on their faces when they are chosen is priceless and makes it all worthwhile.

So Saturday approaches, my spare room is full to the brim from prizes collected all year,our back patio is also boxed in and volunteers from our little op shop which I am co ordinator of are all coming to our "wrap and giggle" day.We wrap all the prizes in cellephane and ribbons and box them up ready for the day, I could not so it without their help,this year I have 8 girls helping me and we will take from 9am probably till 4 to wrap it all.We have cups of tea and lunch and yummy slices to make the day a social activity as well as work and the giggle part comes in as Bob says the place sounds like a hen house.(which is also why we named our quilt group as we did).

The generosity of people astounds me I find things on my doorstep with little notes saying"just a little help for your day" on them. I am so blessed to have a husband that puts up with all the chaos and is supportive. Bob actually drives the bus to the neighbouring towns to collect the people,and yes ,George goes along too if he doesn't take George they all make a fuss.

I am not good at the pics and posting as yet,I just can't seem to find the time to sit and fiddle, after the 5th June things will be slower and maybe then I can improve!

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