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Coordinator's Report

One Double Five Whare Roopu Community House continues to offer inspiring cups of tea to people in Whangarei. Projects that have developed from this interchange over the years continue to flourish. We continue to offer whanau support, counseling and community development support to Marae and community groups in our area. The community house home team of Margaret Poananga, Carol Peters and Debbe Kiriona has been strengthened during this year with the addition of Ashley Lawrence. Maraea Wharehinga has retired this year, though we still see her regularly for our fitness programme. Takurangi Yorke is our host, whanau support worker and information technology teacher. Alina Mancini is our researcher. During the year we have had thre administrative support of a number of young people and dedicated volunteers. The Whanau Support team this year is Maylene Erihe, Takurangi Yorke, Debbe Kiriona and Mandy Chapman-Smith. They helped many families and individuals during this year, supporting over 1000 people in their personal lives, in getting food and furniture, in counselling, with their children and at WINZ, Housing New Zealand, and with other difficulties. The team saw around 120 whanau groups in need of more in depth support. These cases involved counseling, family issues and seeking for work. During this difficult time our front line workers have been under strain with the increased volume and complexity of the cases that they are seeing. Our Youth project, Te Kakano o Taniwharau, this year has had 17 young people learning and growing with us. The learning outcomes for the young people have been satisfactory, though there have been many challenges during the year. We and Kamo High School, our major stakeholder, believe the programme has been well tailored to meet the students needs. They have inspired the adults with their enthusiasm and commitment to one another. The income from the Ministry of Education barely covers the outgoings of the project. Our youth team of John Pelasio and Crete Phillips has provided a strong secure base for the group despite difficulties with a place for the project to be. Ruarangi has continued to have problems with the power – the generator is unreliable, with the security, and with general access. As a result the young people have been working down at One Double Five for some of the year. The holiday programme was run at Ngunguru this year. It was an opportunity for connection with whanau, for story-telling and for fun. The Waka Ama project continues to provide recreational opportunities for young and old in the summer and now also in the winter. Since 2006 - Gail Ambler has been coaching people how to paddle using the two OC6 (six man) waka, and the two OC2 (double) waka owned by 155 based at Kissing Point, Terenga Paraoa (Whangarei Harbour). Over that time, huge numbers (estimated to be over 200) people have experienced the sport of wakaama. Gail Ambler has had assistance from other experienced paddlers during this time but she has consistently turned up from Monday – Thursday at 5pm to take people paddling. Most nights all through the year, both waka are used and sometimes, particularly in summer, people wait to take turns in the two waka available for use. Currently Monday and Wednesday are the dedicated ‘social’ paddler nights – this is where a few experienced paddlers in the club go down and take new, beginning paddlers. At these sessions we focus on teaching technique, safety, etiquette and mostly enjoyment. As people progress, and get more serious, they can paddle on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Community Law Service has extended its range during this year. Regular clinics are now held in Kaikohe, Moerewa, Dargarville, Hikurangi and Kaitaia. We will be beginning clinics in Hikurangi and Ruakaka in July 2010. Megan, who is a talented paralegal, coordinates the outreach clinics. We have seen 5327 people during the year to June 2010 for legal representation, advice, assistance, information and education. There were statistically significant numbers of Maori and of youth seen. The most frequent issues were employment and family issues. Katene Eruera has left to join the air-force chaplaincy. We have been joined by two dedicated and passionate lawyers - Chris Perry, Carla Janssen. We are also fortunate to have Larry Alexander, a community lawyer taking night clinics for us. Karen Tipa, advocate and manager, has expertise in mediation, in employment law and in ACC issues. Aroporeina Poananga has been on 4 months maternity leave and Tasha Wharehinga has worked as the secretary. This is a strong team who can carry this project forward into the New Year. The Cyber Project continues to be a base for people doing their CVs, researching for jobs, playing and keeping up with people in different places. Takurangi Yorke is teaching information technology in the form of a course ‘Keeping up with the grandkids’, a course for mature people. Takurangi is now accredited as a NZQA assessor and has been learning how to teach people who are blind with the use of special IT programs. She has also taught the ‘Computers in Homes’ project. Television and film production: Channel North has now been on air 24/7 for 2 years. The employment of 8 community max young people during the year increased our activities. We have been busy training and supporting these young people – a specific training programme has been run for them. We hope to be able to continue to employ some of these young people on projects after July 2010. A flaxroots training programme continues to be run in combination with NorthTec. Nineteen primary schools are part of the Pukeko Echo PET project and use their school media departments as production houses so that they can be involved with Channel North – Alex Mason and Marilyn Small are coordinating school’s involvement. One Double Five has been involved in the creation of a number of documentaries this year. There have been a series of 5 SKIP films, a documentary about elder abuse, a documentary about child abuse and a number of short infomercials on the same subjects. We continue to let out quality film making equipment to community producers in Whangarei. There have been some feature length films and a number of documentaries produced during the year. Four teams entered the 48 hour film festival. The quality of films being entered into the NAFF (Northland Amateur Film Festival) festival has improved again this year. We look forward to continued development of this industry during the next year. Te Puawaitanga Healthcare Centre has had a good year with stability being provided by an inspired Manager, Lissette Hayes, who has drawn together a tight and effective team. The group makes improvement in the health outcomes for the area of Otangarei. This year the clinic had the highest immunization rate in Northland. They are able to connect well with their community and are therefore able to serve them well. Health promotion activities include working with health and fitness groups, a community gym and a community garden. Our core business continues to be hosting people. We are thankful for the strength of long serving members of our group who continue to offer good food, good company and a time to reflect for those who come to call. Conclusion Thank you to our sponsors and volunteers that have worked this year to make our project a place that supports people with the vision to improve their own situation and the community in which we live. Carol Peters Coordinator

Coordinator 

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