CHAPPY CHAT – August 2023
Long-time local Annette Collins visited the Learning Community to share about the early days of Rainbow Beach
After a break of three weeks, the Learning Community has commenced its twice-weekly activities for Term 3, welcoming back some old friends from last year and also children from families new to the area.
We are blessed to have skilled leaders in our group who provide a wonderful range of activities each week.
Sherry O’Brien is continuing with her program based on Dan Sigel’s work of emotional resilience for the older group. Mo Riggs will be helping to expand the young people’s creativity with her fabulous art program, Kerry will be helping the older children sew their own apron and Aimee will be continuing with Spanish lessons for the younger ones.
During our first week we welcomed along well-known local Elisa, owner of Rainbow Beach Pizza with her husband Sean, who shared about what it was like to grow up in her home country of Sardinia and helped us cook amazing pasta. Curtis and Kimberlee from the Gympie Library also visited with some of their fabulous toys to stretch the young people’s technical skills.
We are in the initial stages of creating a Cooloola Coast Guide for Families under the leadership of Kerry and Tyla that will highlight the best places to visit and activities in the area from a child’s or family’s point of view.
As part of getting the young people to think about our local area, long-time local Annette Collins came along to share her memories of Rainbow’s early days and the many changes that have taken place over the years. Rainbow Beach Community News will be sponsoring this project and providing much-needed advice with regards to content, layout and printing.
Other upcoming activities include a come and try day at the Tin Can Bay Golf Club, a day with the Tin Can Bay Fishing Club where we will be inviting families from the Gympie Homeschooling Network, an opportunity to meet Councillor Jess Milne from the Gympie Council, and learning basic first aid with Cindy from Hartbeat Training in Gympie.
2023 Bush Dance – mark Saturday 16 September in your diary!
We would love to see you at the 2023 Bush Dance which is happening at the Community Centre on Saturday 16 September, again featuring Flashjack who helped make last year’s event so much fun.
Dancing with band members calling out the different moves will happen between 6 pm and 8pm, with hot and cold food available from 5pm and a delicious supper from 8 to 9pm.
Tickets are available from the Community Centre office at $40 for a family, $15 for adults and $10 for children or from Tyla on 0432 651 722. Grazing platters will also be available and need to be pre-ordered from Tyla with platters for 2-3 people costing $25 and platters for 4-6 people costing $35.
Community Pantry
The next Coolaflix night at the Rainbow Beach Community Centre on Saturday 12 August will be supporting the Community Pantry as the local organisation running the evening.
The movie will be ‘Homeward Bound – the Incredible Journey’ originally released in 1993, which is one of the best family movies ever and features the voices of Michael J Fox and Sally Field.
These evenings are fundraising events and we will be selling popcorn, hot and cold drinks, bags of lollies, hot soup and a bread roll and cake. Food will be for sale from 5pm and the movie will commence at 6pm. Chairs will be set out, but you are welcome to bring your own or a rug for your family to sit on.
To date the Community Pantry has distributed over 1500 hampers to Cooloola Coast locals since its commencement in December 2021. We continue to distribute around 40 hampers each fortnight which are available to Cooloola Cove, Tin Can Bay, and Rainbow Beach residents for $10 and are worth between $50-$60 – a pension or healthcare card is not required.
Flyers with details of dates that the hampers are available and how to contact the Community Pantry can be accessed from the Tin Can Bay Centrelink office. The Centrelink office also has a number of vouchers whereby local families or singles who are genuinely struggling can receive a hamper free-of-charge. Hampers must be pre-ordered and can be picked up from the office if recipients are unable to drive to Rainbow Beach themselves.
Regular items include fresh fruit and veggies and pantry staples such as cereal, pasta, and tinned veggies from Foodbank, bread from Ed’s Bakery, and a variety of items from Woolworths Cooloola that are end of line or near their best before date.
To order a hamper for yourself or someone who needs a helping hand, you can contact us via text to 0413 135 867 or hop onto the Rainbow Beach Community Pantry Facebook page and send us a message.
