Category: work

Each week lots of little things happen that give me big joy. It’s challenging to describe my work week sometimes, so much happens….

I watched my friend Jane deliver her first yoga class here to a room packed with people. Jane headed off to India for two months to explore and be trained as a yoga teacher. We advertised her karma classes little over a week before. Lots of positive feedback. On a personal note it was the first yoga class I’ve attended for around 30 years (apart from YouTube classes). I loved it! Just got to get to bed early so I can get up.

I went to a meeting for Get Cheffed. Two of our chefs know each other very well as Megan was Manny’s apprentice. As the friendly banter went on, Manny very genuinely said he hopes Megan beats him because he trained her to be better than him. That’s a boss I want to see training our youth. As the team ticks off all the details that have gone into this epic undertaking I feel in awe of all the work, the quality of the work and the generosity of our foodie and business community. An impressive lineup of people from crowdfunding supporters, businesses sponsors, food industry celebrities and some govt funds is going to equal something very special for Gippsland and our team has plowed through the many stages of putting this on.

An irreplaceable belonging went missing this week. Our crew were horrified and went into action to track it down. I’m not sure who or how, but the item was returned within hours of it’s disappearance. A bit of detective work and an honest phone call led to the item returned to its owner with huge smiles all round.

A past participant returned to prepare nibbles for our Art Exhibition opening. He’d joined Alt_Art for a meeting and one of the artists had told him about a job opportunity and he got the job! He was so grateful he came back to give a few hours of time and $$ for ingredients to make a delicious feast for our event.

I was given a ticket to Pause Fest. I enjoyed all the speakers I heard. I bumped into a past student who I remembered loved to draw. He has turned his passion into a multi-media company and his work is amazing.

Lots of other stuff happened too but I’ve ran out of time.

Making space

January 21, 2018

johblogs

community reflection work No Comments

Since I’ve come back from my summer break, I’ve been working with Youth Space Latrobe who are on an important mission to co-design a new space for young people in Latrobe Valley. If you know a young person who has great ideas and would like to participate – please share this with them. It’s a huge opportunity and responsibility.

I had the opportunity to share our process of making The VRI space with them.

It was satisfying to remember and talk about the important background work we did with Rosalea Monacella, Craig Douglas, the amazing team from ReActivate Latrobe Valley and our community. I speak to Rose very often since they’ve moved overseas, but still miss having her around. We did so much together- winter and spring festivals, #getsunflowered, 50 Mile Farmers market and especially for me The VRI. We met with countless community groups, businesses and stakeholders.

It’s good to reflect. I’m so busy moving on to the next project or program that I don’t look back on all that’s been done.

I showed the clip that was produced after our consultation.

I found our initial design concept presentation for The VRI which we were calling LV Community Shed or VRI Hall at the time, before we got our branding from The View From Here. It’s tattered from sharing (as shown in photo). So many conversations and meetings around that big pile of paper.

The Design Concept Presentation for The VRI

Plastic and other conversations

July 1, 2016

johblogs

learning reflection work No Comments

Plastic free July starts today. I’m impressed with the efforts by those around me to take up the challenge. We had Tammy from Gippsland Unwrapped come to speak to us at The VRI Sunday Talk last month. She told us about her first time challenge and her ongoing quest to reduce plastic in her life. Her approach and the consistent way she has worked towards making a difference in her personal life was motivating. She has some great resources on her blog if you are considering it.

It’s an empowering feeling to act on an issue you have with the world. We all have things we feel strongly about. When I scroll through my Facebook feed I read the many ways people want change. I respect the efforts others go to, such as Tammy and those joining her in reducing waste, to be the change. I have switched to a bamboo toothbrush (compliments of my wonderful daughter) and will take my own bags to our 50 Mile Farmers Market tomorrow. I still have a long way to go though.

50 Mile Farmers Market @The VRI

I was at the VicHealth Latrobe Community Challenge workshop today with a group of people – all passionate about projects to make a difference. At lunch we had a conversation about cling wrap and it’s overuse, when my friend chose a serviette over a plastic bowl for her lunch because she is taking up the challenge. I looked at my plastic bowl and thought oops. I’ll make a better choice next time. It is actions that make change and surrounding yourself with good role models :).

The VicHealth Community Challenge led by Spark Strategy has been interesting and we have grown our ideas much faster than we could have without it. They have shared this great toolkit – DIY – Development, Impact & You. So many great tools ! I’ve been reflecting on my practices in the last couple of months and getting lots of new tools. I attended Telstra Imaginarium facilitated by Thick nearly a month ago and whilst I missed some sessions due to a cold that swept through The VRI taking it’s turn with each of us, I gained some great resources there. I met people from non-profits across Victoria who are working with new tools to solve problems.

Moments

Making space

Plastic and other conversations

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