Issue 70 - Spectrum Care

Pacific Cultural Group/AspirationsChristmas Party a resounding success!Held at Takatimu Hall, 9 Tanners Road (Mangere Bridge), on Wednesday8 December, the 2010 Pacific Cultural Group/Aspirations Christmas Partyhad more than 380 people attending and was far-and-away the biggest andbest ever!There was no shortage of keen starters for the wide array of games andactivities on offer, all provided by Tiger Trust.Four-way tug-of-war, sumo boxing, bouncy castle/slide and even a water slidewere all hugely enjoyed, and we offer our heart-felt thanks and appreciationto the Tiger Trust team for helping to make it such a memorable day.After a spectacular lunch, straight from the umu, the Pacific Cultural Grouplaunched into renditions of Merry Christmas in Samoan, Tongan, Niueanand English (pictured right). This was followed by a wonderful dance item(pictured below), performed by the Cultural Group.Santa arrived soon after and passed out presents to an eager andexcited crowd.PCG/Aspirations Services also invited the entire North West region to joinin on the fun.

Awesome Experiences Fun Club now anincorporated society – join now!The ‘Awesome Experiences Fun Club Incorporated’ is now up and running, and members have enjoyed a variety of activities in recent months.So far, they’ve had the opportunity to try golf, bowling and had a waterfight! This month, we have the chance to take a ride in the cart with aharness racehorse, trotting around Alexandra Park.The social events have been very popular and the recent trip to RainbowsEnd had over 50 people in attendance.As you can appreciate, this takes a lot of time and effort to manage, sowe’re looking for volunteers to either attend events and support people, orhost an event.Do you have a hobby or special interest which means you can organisesomething our members can go to?We’d love to hear from anybody who wants to support the club in whatevercapacity, so we can ensure its success. Membership is growing and we wantto set up some smaller interest groups as well as provide the monthly socialevents and ‘have a go’ events.Contact me if you feel you could help the club in any way by phoning09 634 3790 ext 312 or 0274 757 577.Helen Mulford – Coordinator of Advocacy ServicesShowtime for the Pacific Cultural GroupSpectrum Care’s Pacific Cultural Group performed at the inaugural MangereShowtime on the evening of Wednesday 10 November at the Mangere ArtsCentre and were spunky, lively and entertaining!Upoko and Tua danced beautifully; Wichmond, Vaine, Desmond, Junior andJohn were passionate; and Mata was fantastically energetic. At the MC’srequest, Upoko and Desmond also performed their favourite songs.Many thanks to Fale, Ricky, Jasmine, Loni and Ta’i for their commitment inpreparing the group. Much appreciation also to the houses that attendedthe event in support of the group.Nite Fuamatu – Outcomes Brokervision:people with disabilities living great livesvalues:person centredResponsive to the person; individualised services and supportinnovationPioneering and looking for better wayscommitment and passionCreating and maintaining a high-performance culture, where we arepassionate about what we dopartnershipWorking successfully together with others, valuing each other’scontributionexcellenceLeading the way

A weekend in Rotorua is just the tonic!The years of hard work and consistency in supporting our service users made Pallant’s holiday trip to Rotorua a great success, with the whole house(together with Junior from Redoubt) heading away for a fun-filled weekend.On Sunday 31 July at 9am, the group left house and arrived Rotorua at12pm. After putting things in the hotel and having lunch, we all left for thePolynesian Spa. Everybody seemed to be hurrying to get into the spa! Allthe service users had a wonderful time and they spent two hours soakingin the spa.In the evening, everybody relaxed for few hours in the hotel and after dinnerit was time to go night shopping. It was a first-time experience for Shaunand Leng, walking around the city at night. Even though it was a bit coldand wet, everybody enjoyed the outing.The next day, we visited Whakarewarewa Thermal Village. Upon arrival, thetour guide took the group around the village and showed some of thesignificant locations.Everybody was very excited about the village performance and took somephotos with the performers after their show.The group had lunch by Lake Rotorua and then went to the gondola forcable-car rides.It was an amusing experience for all the service users and they all reallyenjoyed it.Finally, the group departed Rotorua at 2pm and arrived back home in theearly evening.Special thanks go to all our hard-working team at Pallant – Paul, Frank,Ricky, Richard, Mal, Asish, Gaye and Yvonne. Without your support wewouldn’t have accomplished this journey.All of you have added essence to the quality of life for our service users.Asish Narayan – CSWAcross the Spectrum available by email. Register now!As part of achieving Spectrum Care’s ongoing vision of ‘people with disabilities living great lives’, we’re constantly looking for opportunities to streamlineour activities and provide higher-quality support to our service users.To this end, Across the Spectrum is now available via email, with the aim of making more resources available to support our service users in living great lives.If you’d like to receive Across the Spectrum by email, please send your email address to: newsletter@spectrumcare.org.nz, or simply go to our website(www.spectrumcare.org.nz) and join our mailing list in one easy step.