CHAPPY CHAT – December 2022

Learning Community

The Learning Community has had a wonderful year with children from 20 homeschooling families living in Rainbow Beach, Cooloola Cove, and Tin Can Bay involved during 2022.

I would like to congratulate all of the parents, most of whom had never homeschooled before, on their willingness to spend the time and effort ensuring their children had a positive alternative to mainstream schooling during a time that was quite scary and uncertain.

The participants are aged between 5 and 15 and have bonded amazingly well as the year has gone on, with strong relationships developing between all of the children that will last into the future. As a way of remembering all of the fabulous activities and visiting speakers we enjoyed throughout the year, we have created a yearbook of photos for each family.

One of our most recent visitors was police chaplain Michael Cody, who came along dressed in Lighthorse uniform to share about the importance of Remembrance Day and the role that the Lighthorse Brigade played in the First World War. Michael’s lovely wife Kerry helped everyone make a poppy to wear on Remembrance Day.

Our recycling project Topsy the Turtle was entered in the Fraser Coast Regional Council’s  ‘Waste to Art’ competition where local artists were tasked with creating a work of art using items destined for landfill.

The competition was open to all ages and a small group attended on Friday 11 November hoping that Topsy might take out a place in the 12-17 section. However, this was not to be as we had not taken into account the quality of the other entries which were incredible.

All of the entries will be on display at Gatakers Artspace in Kent Street, Maryborough until 8 January 2023 and if you are in the area, it is well worth a visit. There is a people’s choice award that will be announced at the end of exhibition, so feel free to vote for us!

Our final Learning Community day will be Thursday 8 December and we will be ending the year with the Rainbow Beach Great Race where our young people will be set various tasks to complete in pairs within a set time limit.

We would like to thank all of the community volunteers, parent volunteers, local businesses, Rainbow Beach Community News, Lee from Gympie Today, the Sports Club, Councillor Jess Milne and Chloe from the Gympie Regional Council, Curtis and Gareth from the Gympie Library, Sheryl and Liam from the Fire & Emergency Services Facility, Bunnings Gympie, Diane from Parks & Wildlife and the always-helpful Community Centre volunteers for enabling us to provide so many wonderful activities throughout the year.

Sarah and Dean from Rainbow Beach Learn to Surf have taken the young people on many adventures throughout the year which have increased their knowledge and enjoyment of this special place that we are privileged to call home.

The Learning Community will be involved in Santa Comes to Rainbow on Sunday 11 December, hosting a children’s corner with activities including giant games. We will also be selling Christmas decorations made from local pine cones so come along and find a special centrepiece for your Christmas table.

Community Pantry

The number of hampers we have available each week has increased due to popular demand – we are now up to 48 and have distributed close to 1,000 hampers since we started!

The contents of each hamper varies as Foodbank has most of their food donated but also buy in items to ensure a good variety. We usually have fresh fruit and veggies to add to the selection of dry goods with Woolworths Cooloola donating discontinued items including pet food, stationery supplies, toiletries, and toys as well as frozen products.

In our Christmas hampers available on Thursday 15 December we will be including items such as tinned ham and other treats courtesy of Foodbank and the Rainbow Beach IGA.

The pantry will be closed over Christmas and the New Year with our last day being Thursday 15 December and hampers available again from Thursday 12 January.

A huge thanks to Suellen, Shaz, Belinda, Kerry, Jodie, and Di who have done an incredible job coordinating, picking up food from Woolies and packing and distributing the hampers each week.

Ronnie Timperon