Talk Timaru February March April 2021

Branching out in our Community

Altrusa International of Timaru Email President: [email protected]

Email Editor: [email protected] Postal Address PO Box 4146 Highfield Timaru 7942 Meetings held at Women’s Community Centre Butler Street Timaru 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at 5.30pm District Fifteen Website www.altrusa.org.nz International Website www.altrusa.org

Contents

Page 1 – Title Page

Page 2 – Donna’s Dialogue

Page 3 – Board Members Dates to Diary

Page 4 - Committee Chatter

Page 5 – Club Projects & Fundraisers

Page 11 – Accent & Int’l News

Page 12 – District Fifteen

Page 13 – Socialising Together

Page 14 – Welcome

Page 15 – IFF Day report

Page 16 – Birthday wishes Get well wishes

Page 17 – What’s on?

Page 18 – Secret Buddies

Page 19 - Jenny’s Jottings

Page 1

Donna’s Dialogue

When I look at the newsletter and the amount of reports included, it is no wonder we all get tired by December! What an incredibly generous and giving group of Altrusans we have in Timaru. Give yourselves a pat on the back for getting in behind our projects and fundraisers leading up to Christmas and also increasing the public’s awareness of all things Altrusa.

We look forward to giving away up to 1000 books on International Children’s Day, celebrating International Women’s Day and also Altrusa Awareness week in March.

April is our birthday month and the beginning of our 50th birthday year, depending on when you count from! Altrusa International of Timaru’s Inaugural Dinner was held on 24th April 1971 and 11th March 1972 is the date we became a Chartered Club. Definitely worth noting and I foresee a year of celebrations, community spirit and generosity ahead.

We are now going up a gear in our preparations for Conference ’21 to be held in Timaru end of April/start of May. Members are busy behind the scenes planning every detail to ensure a successful conference for Governor Maria Mackay, the Board, speakers, Altrusans and their partners, and to have a little fun too.

South Canterbury will benefit from such a delightful group visiting our area, admiring our scenery, tasting our food and shopping locally. There are several groups making a holiday of it and will add more of the South Island to their itinerary.

We are looking forward to hosting and are very aware we may be the only District in the World fortunate enough to be able to meet like this in relative safety.

It will take all of us to make this work and I have no doubt everyone is on board and willing to use their unique talents and knowledge to make it enjoyable for all who attend.

Exciting!

Love always,

Page 2

2020 -2021 Board Members Dates to Diary

President

Donna McColl February

2 Board Meeting at Donna’s President Elect 6 Membership Muster Zest

9 Business Meeting WCC 5.30 Minute Secretary 23 Programme Meeting WCC 5.30 Marilyn Ross

Corresponding Secretary March Karen Liddy 1 Altrusa Awareness Week

Treasurer 2 Board Meeting at Donna’s Karyn Buckman 6 Membership Muster Zest 7 Children’s Day at the Bay

Directors 8 International Women’s Day Heather McDonald 9 Business Meeting 5.30pm WCC 23 Programme Meeting 5.30pm WCC Robyn Brien Shelley Brewster April 3 Membership Muster @ Zest Immediate Past President Raewyn Hutton 6 Board meeting at Donna’s 13 Business Meeting 5.30 WCC 2020 -2021 Committee Chairs 24 Happy Birthday Altrusa

27 Programme Night – TBA Service 30 Conference Opening Caroline Bay Robyn Brien May Literacy 1 Conference continues Raewyn Hutton 2 Conference concludes 12 noon

Membership 4 Board meeting @ Donna’s Maureen Skinner 11 Business Meeting 5.30 WCC 25 Changeover to be advised

Communication Sally Marsh/Evelyn Robinson

Page 3

Committee Chatter

Literacy – Raewyn

Unfortunately, we are not going to be able to fundraise to reimburse the books and activity games we donated on Literacy Day. I must confess to not being very active as Literacy Chair and feel the year has come and gone with not a lot being achieved. Certainly nothing that could be submitted for a Letha H Brown award!! My apologies for that. As our birthday programme night falls two days before Conference, we are just going to have a dessert and coffee evening at Zest. We will give you more details regarding time in April.

Communication – Evelyn Robinson/Sally Marsh

We are well into the New Year – and nearly the end of summer! Coming up next month we have Altrusa Awareness Week – and have organized our display at the library. Things are quite different there now so we will just have posters, flyers and book marks on display.

Membership Committee - Maureen

We have welcomed Karena Butler as a member of Timaru Altrusa at our inaugural meeting for the year. We were also pleased to have her join us on the membership committee. We have also welcomed Barbara Boulton who has transferred from Ashburton. We hope they both will enjoy sharing in all aspects of our many club activities. March sees us on duty for the month so we have been organising catering and our programme meeting's format. We look forward to the year ahead.

Service Committee – Robyn Brien

Service Committee Altrusans Become Christmas Elves

In the last quarter of 2020, Service Committee members supported the project “Be a Santa to a Senior”. Twenty one residents from seven Rest Homes in the South Canterbury area put forward the names and Christmas wishes for those people who did not have family or may not receive a gift on Christmas Day. These wishes were hung on a Christmas tree at the Timaru Public Library and members of the public generously offered to make one or more of the wishes come true. Altrusans then wrapped and delivered the gifts to the intended recipients. Rest Homes and recipients were delighted to receive these gifts of Christmas joy.

A big thank you to Service Committee members for supporting this project and ensuring that Christmas wishes for these twenty one seniors came true.

Page 4

The gifts all wrapped and ready to bring Christmas cheer – thanks to Bluestone school for the lovely Christmas cards!

Club Projects and Fundraisers

Specially Baked 4U – Robyn

Well done Timaru Altrusans – your baking, pamphlet drops, delivery service, handmade cards and baking donations raised a net profit of over $1500. In addition a private donor has added money to our fundraising efforts giving a final total of $3300 and these funds will be donated to cystic fibrosis to improve the lives of those who suffer from this debilitating disease. It has also been great to get feedback from those who have ordered the baking – “stressless Christmas,” “beautiful baking delivered to our doorstep,” “I would like to order for next Christmas now!”

Thank you all for your generous support of this project

Page 5

The Olwen Norton Altrusa Scholarship

Tēnā koutou katoa

My name is Kerryn I live locally in the heart of Timaru with my husband Nathan and 3 boys Ashton, Taylah and Jett. In 2020 I decided to apply to do my degree in Bachelor of Teaching and Learning (Primary). I submitted my application in 2020 not long after lock down. After going through all the processes of assessments and an interview I was excited to be accepted on to the course but also started to feel very nervous at the same time. I am very passionate about helping children and offering support. My why for applying to do my Bachelor of Teaching and Learning in Primary is because I want to make a difference in learner’s lives. I want to be the teacher students want to come to school for, to be excited to learn and give fun and exciting opportunities in and out of the class room. I want them to know I care and I am there for them to support and encourage their learning and creativity. After being told about Altrusa International Timaru and the scholarship you had to offer I applied and I was lucky enough to become the recipient of the Olwen Norton Altrusa Scholarship for 2021. I really appreciate the work and effort Altrusa do to provide support for our community. The scholarship money I have received will be used for course related costs over the time of my degree. I have just returned home from my first week away being on campus where I met some amazing new friends and we are excited to start our journey of learning together.

“Poipoia te kakano kia puawai” Nurture the seed and it will blossom.

Ngā mihi nui kia koutou (Big thank you to you all)

Kerryn

This was my first day of Uni

Scholarship committee member Gillian presents Kerryn with the Olwen Norton Altrusa Scholarship at our February Business meeting. Best Wishes Kerryn for your study

Our Christmas raffle provided the funds for our scholarship – the raffle was won by a visiting gentleman who gifted it to his sister and she was so excited to be able to choose Judith’s Christmas cake having not had time to make one. The very large basket was delivered to a lady who was overwhelmed with what she was going to do with such a big basket!

The raffle grossed over $1500

Page 6

Fabric Bazaar - Heather

Finally on the 8th of November 2020, after frustrating delays due to Covid 19 we held the Fabric Bazaar in the Celtic Hall. Thanks to the many members who helped with sorting and pricing and on the day. $2750.00 was raised which we topped up to $3000 and presented to Fiona Dyne from Parkinson’s South Canterbury at the Business meeting in February.

Days for Girls Sewing Bee

On November 21st our meeting room transformed into a sewing room & was buzzing with over 20 women stitching, assembling components which make up shields, trimming, turning through, pressing and sometimes unpicking!

Waimate Inner Wheel joined us again to help as did friends who had heard about the day through word of mouth.

This is becoming a real community effort which would not be possible without Carol's superb leadership and passion for Days for Girls.

Enjoy a snapshot of the day and maybe think about joining us next time!

Page 7

‘Bags of Love’ to our Emergency Department at Timaru Hospital

In the lead up to Christmas little gift bags were delivered with love from Altrusa Timaru to the Emergency Dept.

After making my way through to waiting area which was extremely busy, I delivered the gift bags to the Head of Dept. who was very delighted and grateful.

I would like to thank members who had donated the odd item, this helps keep the cost down, a very careful selection of safe items, colouring in pencils, books, puppets and toys are chosen.

Hopefully these gift bags will help ease the stress for young children and mum and dad while waiting for assistance.

May also delivered little bags for to the Children’s Ward

With thanks Glenda

Roses on the Bay Market Day

On behalf of Glenda and myself, once again we were very grateful for all the baking which we sold at the Rose Festival. Many thanks to all who contributed. We did sell out and perhaps we could have done with a little more, but we made more than enough to cover our annual donation of $300 to the SC

Women’s Loan Fund.

It is always an enjoyable day and the Christmas Raffle certainly does well!

Thanks also to those who came and helped on the stall.

Raewyn

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Family Works Presentation

On behalf of Altrusa Int’l of Timaru, I presented Liz Nolan from Family Works with $300 towards purchasing frozen chickens to put in the many food parcels for families in need over the Christmas period.

Last year, in particular, was a challenging time for many families and this gift, along with the knitted items and groceries donated throughout the year, makes a real difference to the people in our community and enables Family Works to do the same.

Thank you, ladies.

Toy Train Funds Donated to CPlay

Timaru Altrusa will donate over $300 to the new playground which is being planned for Caroline Bay. This money has been raised through an auction of a toy train which was generously donated by a local builder. We look forward to seeing the development of CPlay.

Page 9

Teen Parent Study Group – Timaru Girls High School

Our journey began in 2013 when the then Coordinator, the late Marina Charlton, spoke to our Club, outlining the plans of providing an education opportunity for teen parents in the South Canterbury area.

Altrusa Timaru climbed on board to share the journey by firstly donating a bin of new books for the wee ones to be read to while attending to spark an interest in books and ultimately literacy!

What is significant is that from 2013 onwards Altrusa members have been attending mornings four times a week to care for the babies and toddlers while their Mums/Dads study.

This small group which has changed over the years play a pivotal support role for both the children and the parents as valuable knowledge and life experiences are shared.

Altrusa’s involvement and that of other agencies were recognised at a morning tea at the end of 2020

That first bin of books laid the foundation which began 7 years ago!

Thank you Maureen, Karen, Lois, Betty, Judith and all those who over the past 7 years have helped in some way

Page 10

An Altrusa Accent

We all know that our clubs need diversity and growth, but did you ever really look at the different generations and see why we may be having trouble bringing in the next generation. Now I know we can’t group the different generations just by date because I can see myself in a few of the “generational groups”. We have to keep in mind that every current and potential Altrusan needs to be treated as an individual. Some things that work for you or other people in your group don’t work for everyone. Keep an open mind. There are a lot of good ideas out there and they need to be tapped in order to grow. Traditionalists respect authority, are dependable, loyal, mentors, and want to leave a legacy. Baby Boomers are ambitious, don’t want to grow old, do respect, mentor and are workaholics who “live to work”. GenXers are tech savvy, educated, have a life to work balance, untrusting of authority and independent. GenYers are protected, pampered, privileged, non-confrontational, and frugal, have strong family values, and want to be valued and know their purpose. As I said before, you may fit into more than just your own age group, but this will give you a little insight into bringing in the “next generation” to Altrusa. Altrusa is about Inclusion- let ALL of your members know how much they are valued. In order for us to keep growing we need to include all generations Ingrid Christianson, Altrusa International Membership Development Committee, Co-Chair 2017 – 2019 - Abridged Thank you to the Membership Committee for providing the Accent for this issue of Timaru Tales

International News Beverly Hardy – International President 2019 – 2021

Page 11

District Fifteen News

Governor Maria’s theme for this biennium is “Embrace the Journey”

In this slot we are showcasing the newest club in District Fifteen who were chartered on 13 December 2018 making 20 clubs in our District.

All about Altrusa International of Ohariu – Johnsonville - Wellington

Hands-On Service Collected ~300 items for Johnsonville Community Centre Foodbank, Participated in a sewing bee for Days for Girls New Zealand, Wrote 40+ Christmas cards for 18 local Rest Home Residents, Volunteered at the AREPA Gamers Club Festival, Made Love Letters to decorate children's hospital rooms, Prepared Boomerang Bags Wellington fabric for Brownie Camp, Made 80 bags of Easter chocolates for volunteers with Kiwi Community Assistance (KCA). Fundraising Ran a Quiz Night at The Borough raising ~$1200, Ran a Sausage Sizzle at Mitre 10 MEGA Porirua raising ~$300, Donated $1500 to 15 local charities via our Charter Kickstarter fundraiser campaign, Collected over $500 at Crofton Downs Countdown for the New Zealand Heart Foundation Annual Appeal, Collected over $300 at Johnsonville Mall for the Dementia Wellington Street Appeal, Raised ~$1100 for Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Aotearoa (PADA) via a movie night fundraiser.

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Socialising Together

Christmas Lunch

There was a good turnout for our Christmas lunch, even though it was probably a little later than usual, so thank you to everyone who could make it.

Benny’s Again had delicious food and instead of having only a selection of Christmas type food, we chose to order off the menu so we could have as little or as much as we

wanted. The desserts were a treat for those who chose to indulge….

There was plenty of chatter which was so lovely after a hard year of being active members of Altrusa, despite (or in spite of) Covid-19 and the lockdown we endured!

Social Lunch

On Sunday, 31st January 2021, Wayne and I hosted the annual Social Lunch get together. After a week of strange weather patterns, including thunder and lightning, we were incredibly grateful to have such a lovely warm day! 27 people attended, made up of 17 members and their husbands, as well as one special returnee, Sue Campbell, attending with Lorraine. The Altrusa gazebos and tables were used as well as our own table and chairs. Everyone brought either a salad or dessert to go along with the meat, potatoes, buns and other snacks. It was all delicious and there were no repeat dishes. Thank you very much for coming and starting the calendar year off with a hiss and a roar, or should I say with many conversations around the table, including the history of our house and complete with caravan tours available! 

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A warm welcome to our newest Altrusan

Karena shares a little with us…..

Most of my schooling was done at Geraldine while living with my grandparents at the linen flax mill while it was operating and spent many hours playing on the linen stacks sliding down them. Completed high school and due to very high unemployment times had several mediocre jobs until starting at Mays Bakery as a baker’s assistant. Met my future husband at 18 (he gate crashed a 21st I was at). Was married at 21 and had a small food business until we moved to a small farm in Albury were I joined a shearing gang at the grand age of 30 and stayed in that job for 8 years, obtaining my wool classers ticket. After 20 years of marriage we decided to separate and I packed a bag and went to Australia with no plans and one bag and ended up there for 16 years with many adventures and several trips to other countries. Came back to Timaru to catch up with family and ended up buying a house and getting my mother moved in and was fortunate to get a job at Specsavers and have been there over 4 years obtaining my dispensing optician certificate.

President Donna with new member Karena, her sponsor Jenny and Membership Chair Maureen

Barbara Boulton has transferred from Altrusa International of Ashburton to our Club and we will hear from Barb in our next newsletter!

Page 14

IFF Day in Ashburton – First timer, Robyn

Recently I attended my first IFF Day. I was unsure of what it was going to be about, who would be there and even what IFF stood for.

A good number of Altrusans from Christchurch, Ashburton, Timaru and Oamaru attended as well as National Altrusan Leaders and Directors,

The icebreaker required Altrusans to tell three truths and one lie about themselves. This activity caused much hilarity and it was amazing to witness the straight faced lies that Altrusans could tell such as enjoying bungy jumping, gardening and their so called professional experiences.

The focus for the first session encouraged Altrusans to take up leadership positions both at local and national level. Those who were holding positions of responsibilities described their jobs and workload. Similarities between national and club level structures were highlighted.

An Ashburton biographer took the second session. Her work is voluntary and aims to record people’s lives often when a person is in a hospice, hospital or rest home. This very valuable work records details for family and friends, a narrative for future reference and also provides a sense of perspective and closure for the storyteller.

Bead making was the focus for the afternoon session - breaking down beads, putting together possible jewellery combinations – a therapeutic and fun activity.

IFF Day certainly hit the mark by providing Information, Fun and Friendship. And the food was delicious.

Photos sourced from the DSB IFF Day report from Claire Paterson

Page 15

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS Our Best Wishes to

March Helen - you are always in our

18 Helen Henderson thoughts.

April

1 Donna McColl May – you are always in our 5 Marlene Hanson thoughts.

15 Shelley Brewster

24 Sally Marsh Karen – Best Wishes as you

28 Marilyn Ross recover from hip surgery

May

18 Maureen Skinner Nola – sending good wishes for your upcoming ankle surgery. June

4 Heather MacDonald

18 Jan Bolton And our two Evelyns who have recently had surgery – best

wishes as you recover back to full health.

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Altrusa International of

Timaru

50 years since our Inaugural

Dinner

24 April 1971

Coffee & Dessert at Zest

th 27 April 2021

Conference ‘21

Creating Waves in our

Communities

April 30th – May 2nd

Caroline Bay

Early bird Registrations close March 12th

News & Events – Altrusa International District Fifteen Thank you to all those who have been collecting their brown paper bags. Christchurch , Ashburton and Oamaru clubs also did a collection for us in February and brought them to the IFF Day on Saturday so we now have enough!

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Secret Buddy Thanks

To the club and all its great members, I am writing to thank you all so very much for your care and devotion to me while I struggled with poor health. The lovely flowers, cards and visits I received while in hospital were so much appreciated. Some of you went the extra mile which George and I much appreciated, with the lovely meals and baking you delivered. I know I thanked you personally at the time but this was so overwhelming I thought I should put it in writing. It is lovely to be back to meetings with you all and feel that I can leave 2020 behind as the most unbelievable year that I hope never returns. Betty

Thank you very much to my Secret Buddy for my Christmas present. I absolutely love what you chose and use them almost daily. Mwah! Donna

A BIG Thank you to Timaru Altrusans for my specially handcrafted Birthday Card which arrived in my box sneakily and on time! Also a BIG Thankyou to my Secret Buddy who craftily used another Altrusan to deliver such a delightful soap and greetings. Also a further BIG Thankyou to all those special Altrusans who, through the year and on my Birthday have made very kind gestures towards us which have lifted my Spirits and kept me in touch. I feel so truly Blessed and am sincerely grateful. May

Thank you Secret Buddy for my Christmas gift which is proving most useful, and also for the sweet treats when I was recovering from my hip op. Your thoughtfulness is appreciated. Karen

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Jenny’s JottingsJenn as Editor

Dear Altrusans,

I hope your Christmas and New Year celebrations were lovely even though it now seems so far away. We enjoyed having family to stay and visit and had precious times with our two wee granddaughters who are growing up far too quickly.

As I write this on March 1 we are at Level 2 lockdown…….again!

This does impact on what we can do as a club in the short term – our 1000 books are not able to be given to children celebrating Children’s Day on Sunday March 7 - just one of the many events which have been affected.

BUT we must keep our spirits up and continue on with ways of being an effective service club in our region by branching out and be constantly seeking opportunities to make a difference, however small that difference might be.

The highlight of the next few months is the preparation for Conference ’21 being hosted by us.

The Conference committee is working hard as are all the subcommittees to make this a great event for all Altrusans attending and to also showcase our wee region of South Canterbury to our visitors.

It will be the little touches that will be remembered and make the difference.

With kind regards

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