THE CONNECTOR! COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS - VOLUME 48 AUTUMN 2021
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Community
Connections
Te Hapori Awhina Tangata
The Connector!
Volume 48 ~ Autumn 2021
In this issue: Greta Pattison’s cheerful
sunflower (p. 19) and the support
evaluation feedback and digital skills
survey (pp. 9–15)
Contents Page
Chris meets Mittens................................................................. 3
Big bowling trip By Shaun Crabtree......................................... 3
The Kapiti Kiwis’ teddy bears’ picnic....................................... 4
Volunteering at Te Puna Manawa By Jeremy Oliver,
Shannan Norton and Shane Betti............................................. 5
Volunteering at the Vincentian Home By Louise Bulled........... 6
James enjoys nature By Bert Ward.......................................... 6
Fun making crafts By Courtney Palmer................................... 7
Giving toys to children By Sandra Hibbs.................................. 8
The big 60 By Dave Coulson.................................................... 8
Support evaluation feedback By the CCSLT team................... 9
Digital skills and preferences survey By the CCSLT team..... 12
The wedding of the century! By Kerryn Lowe........................ 16
A fun trip to Wellington Zoo By Shannan Norton................... 17
The Community Connections ballroom dance
By Nicholas Smith.................................................................. 18
Sunflowers and a holiday By Greta Pattison.......................... 19
Sandra’s walk By Bronwyn Edwards...................................... 20
Community Connections
Main office: 5 Sheffield Street, PARAPARAUMU 5032
Phone 04 298 7703, www.ccslt.org.nz
The deadline for the next issue: Friday 11 June 2021
Please send stories and pictures to Sara, sara.hamer@ccslt.org.nz
Chris meets Mittens
Mittens is a cat in Wellington who wanders Te Aro and Wellington
city’s central business district. He roams up to 2 kilometres from
his home. Mittens has become a celebrity and it was a very exciting
day when Chris met Mittens.
Big bowling trip By Shaun Crabtree
In February I was chosen to
represent my local bowling club in a
bowling tournament in Palmerston
North. It was great! We played well, I
got a medal and had a good time.
At the end of the tournament, we
had a social and I could meet friends
from around the North Island. We also
did some sightseeing, looking at the
windmills and we went for a ride on a
Left to right: Shaun, John and Tim small train. Here is a picture of me with
some of my team-mates on the train.
Community Connections ~ 3
The Kapiti Kiwis’
teddy bears’ picnic
The Kapiti Kiwis had a teddy bears’ picnic at
Gabrielle’s as their first meeting of this year and
had some fun too. We ate our lunch, fed the
bears of course, then played some games
before having a treasure hunt. The treasure
was chocolates hidden in the bushes by
Gabrielle since she was the host.
Kapiti Kiwis Picnic Brian (network facilitator)
If you went down to with teddies
Gabberielle’s
You’d have seen a big surprise
Around the back and beneath the trees
A sight for your very own eyes
For every bear that ever there was
Was gathered there for certain because
That was the day the teddy bears had their picnic.
Enjoying the picnic, left to right: Gabrielle, teddies,
Susan, Trish and Rachel
4 ~ Community Connections
Volunteering at Te Puna Manawa
By Jeremy Oliver, Shannan Norton and Shane Betti
Shannan
Te Puna Manawa is a soup kitchen and
community space for anybody and is open
7 days a week from 11am–2pm. I volunteer
on Tuesday to vacuum, do the dishes and
gardening. I also enjoy their food and hot
chocolate. If you are in Naenae, please
come and visit!
Shane Shannan
I have started
volunteering at Te Puna Manawa on a
Monday. Tim, who is the manager, is very
nice and I like him a lot. I help in the kitchen
to wash all the dishes and put them away.
Shane
Jeremy
I volunteer to help make food such as macaroni cheese, and I
wash dishes and put things away. I enjoy volunteering at Te Puna
Manawa and they make really nice food.
Community Connections ~ 5
Volunteering at the Vincentian Home
By Louise Bulled
On Thursday afternoons at 1pm I go and
volunteer my time at the Vincentian Rest Home in
Berhampore. I go and give company and comfort
to some of the people there who need it.
Some of the people I visit are Jannie, Salote,
Mary and Maria. When I walk in the TV room
they have smiles on their faces because they are
happy to see me. I sit down and talk to them and
listen to their stories.
When I go and see Mary, who is in her 90s, she
holds onto my hand very tightly and sometimes does not want me
to leave. I read her Bible verses, knit next to her, and we watch
Coronation Street together. I am knitting them all blankets.
James enjoys nature
By Bert Ward, support worker
James loves nature and wildlife and that is
something he and I have in common. So we
spend lots of time watching animals during the
day, and discussing their antics with a unique
sense of humour we both share!
Working with James has led to my taking health,
vigilance, mindfulness and growth to new levels I
thought I’d never experience. So my hat is off to
Bert (left) and you, James. Keep up the great work, and I hope
James (right) that the future holds great things for us both.
6 ~ Community Connections
Fun making crafts
By Courtney Palmer
Over the last couple of months, one of my staff
has been helping me with some craft ideas.
We first made an origami Christmas tree.
Then we made an origami heart, a butterfly, a
peacock and a crane.
Today we made a trinket basket for my
bedroom. My support staff prepared thick
cardboard in a rectangle shape. Then put
holes in it evenly around the edges and
cut even lengths of skewers. Then they
used the hot glue gun to set the skewers
into the cardboard slots.
My Christmas tree
and other origami I tied my wool to one skewer and
weaved the wool around until halfway
up. I chose pink and purple beads to
put on each skewer. I finished off the
rest of the weaving and then put ribbon
around the top with hot glue.
I enjoyed doing this basket. I might
make one for my mum.
Beginning the woven basket
and my finished basket
Community Connections ~ 7
Giving toys to children By Sandra Hibbs
I decided to buy and donate some toys for
disadvantaged children in Hawkes Bay. I went
shopping and wrapped all the presents I’d brought,
with help from my support team.
Then I delivered these presents to
With the box WINZ Hastings, where the Oranga
of toys
Tamariki office is. The supervisor
listened to me talk about my time in the state
ward home for girls, and told me what they
do and how appreciative she was. My toys
will brighten so many children’s lives. I really
enjoyed doing this and plan to do this again.
Taking the toys to WINZ
The big 60 By Dave Coulson
It was my 60th birthday in January. The
original date for the party was going to
be the 17th, but many of my guests were
working so we delayed it until the 23rd.
We had the party at my brother’s place in
Dave and his friends
Waipawa. It is a beautiful setting with trees
and a pond. The party was great! I had about 40 people show up to
celebrate alongside me.
I wasn’t supposed to get any presents but my brother Ross surprised
me with a new shirt. Can you guess what the picture was? It made my
day, I ended up staying the night and partied till late.
8 ~ Community Connections
Support evaluation feedback
By the CCSLT team
Responses by area We were given a lot of great
feedback from everyone in the
August 2020 support evaluation.
76 people sent their forms back,
which is about a fifth of all of the
people Community Connections
supports. Thank you very much
to everyone who sent these back
– they really help us to see how
well our support is working for
you. The chart below shows how
many forms we got back from
each area. The Wider Wellington
area sent the most responses,
with Hawkes Bay coming second. Well done to Wider Wellington
and the Hawkes Bay!
The feedback that you gave us was mostly very good. The graphs
on the following pages show how people feel about their goals
and the way their support works, and their overall happiness with
Community Connection’s support.
Community Connections ~ 9
Achievable goals
Most people said that they almost
always (in blue) or usually (in yellow)
feel like their goals are planned in an
achievable way.
Most people said that they almost
always (in blue) or usually (in yellow)
feel like they are making progress on
their goals. However, if you do not feel
that your goals/dreams are being met
please contact your coordinator or
Goal progress
team leader, as we really do want them
to come true.
Most people said that they almost
always (in blue) or usually (in yellow)
feel like their support is planned in a
flexible way.
Most people said that they almost
always (in blue) or usually (yellow) feel
like their
Flexible support Support at planned time
support
was
delivered
at the
planned
time.
10 ~ Community ConnectionsInformed of changes Overall satisfaction
Most people said that they are almost always (in blue) or usually (in
yellow) informed of any changes in their support.
Most people said that they are almost always (in blue) or usually
(in yellow) satisfied with the support that they received from
Community Connections overall.
22 people gave us extra comments at the bottom of their forms.
All the comments were positive, with many saying they were happy
with their support worker/team. Other comments included making
progress with goals, and enjoying activities.
The next support evaluation will be done in early 2021.
Community Connections ~ 11Digital skills and preferences survey
By the CCSLT team
We also did a survey of people’s digital skills and preferences.
Seventy-two people responded to this survey. The graphs below
show the results:
When you want to talk to Do you have a computer,
someone do you prefer to: iPad or tablet?
Most people prefer to talk Just under half of the
to someone in person, people responding have a
although a few like to use computer, iPad or tablet.
text, phone or an app like Just over half do not own
Google Duo. one of these things, or
chose not to say.
12 ~ Community ConnectionsDo you have a smartphone? Just over half of the people
responding have a smart
phone. Just under half do
not, or chose not to say.
Does your device work?
Unfortunately, although
people have devices (smart
phones or tablets, etc), not
all of them work. About
44% of people said their
device was working and a
similar number of people
chose not to say (no
opinion).
Do you use the internet?
Just under half of the
people responding use the
internet, roughly a quarter
of respondents do not use
the internet, and a similar
number chose not to say.
Community Connections ~ 13Does the internet work? Just over 40% of people
responding said the
internet works for them.
Less than 10% said it
didn’t work, and just over
40% chose not to say (no
opinion).
About one third of people
How often do you use responding said they use
the internet work?
the internet every day, and
a similar number chose not
to say.
Of the people who use
the internet, about a third
use it by themselves and
If you use the internet, is it…?
about a quarter get help
from someone else. A
small number of people
(just under 6%) need
someone to do most of it
for them. About a third of
respondents chose not to
say.
14 ~ Community ConnectionsIf you don’t use
the internet, what stops you? Not knowing how the
internet works, or finding
it confusing were the
main reasons people who
responded didn’t use the
internet.
What is the best way to
receive information about Most people responding
Community Connections?
prefer to receive
information about
Community Connections in
paper format or in person.
Only about 10% of people
responding prefer to get
information by email.
Community Connections ~ 15The wedding of the
century!
By Kerryn Lowe
On 27 November 2020, my little sister
Kate tied the knot with her prince
charming (Cole Day). Everyone actually
thought ‘Finally, it’s about time!’
because we had all been waiting for
them to make it official. They have
already been together for 14 years and
have 3 amazing children and a house.
Kerryn and the bride, Kate
Kate’s two best friends were
bridesmaids. Her own little girl, my
niece Sophie, was the flower girl. She
is only 3 years old and was very well
behaved during the ceremony. She then
danced all night. My highlights of the
day were my little sister getting married
to someone she loves, and my niece
Sophie looking like a princess in her
flower girl dress.
Kerryn and Sophie
16 ~ Community ConnectionsA fun trip to Wellington Zoo
By Shannan Norton
We had fun at the zoo. There were 8 of us who
went from Community Connections. We were Pippa and
spoiled because it was free, and they had delicious Shannan
food. We saw lots of animals including monkeys, parrots, lions, penguins,
bears, red pandas – and my favourite animals which are kangaroos.
We took lots of pictures; here is
a selection for you to see. If you
haven’t been to Wellington Zoo, I
highly recommend it, but be aware
… there is a big hill!
Jeremy and Mel: Shannan and Shane
Vernon, Shannan, Donna and Shane
Regan Regan, Donna, Vernon and Shannan
Community Connections ~ 17The Community Connections
ballroom dance
By Nicholas Smith
On Wednesday 28 October 2020, I took the new dancers of
Community Connections on a date at the ballroom at Southern
Cross. I was the MC for the night. We did singing, dancing, having
a drink and chips. I also gave Tessa in her pink dress the ‘Best
Dressed’ award. So hope to do it again next year!
Having a great time!
Left to right. Back row: Dom,
Ollie, Tim, Nick. Middle: Kate,
Tessa, Adrian, Wesley
Front: Breahn, Mel, Donna
Mel, Tim, Breahn, Ollie and Adrian
dancing and singing
18 ~ Community ConnectionsSunflowers and a holiday
By Greta Pattison
I had a great end of the year!❣ It started
with my planting of sunflower seeds and
watching them grow, with one taller than
my home. I took some photos as they’re the
TALLEST I’ve grown.
I then had a fun-filled relaxed holiday with
my Mum and Dad at the beginning of this
year. We travelled up north, staying in a
lovely home in Russell with spectacular views
and really peaceful environment. We went
around the whole of Russell and we went to
My tall sunflower
Charlotte’s Kitchen in Pahia for lunch.
We also ventured to Waiheke Island for the day, travelling by ferry.
We went for a trip in Auckland on a ferry as well which I really
enjoyed. I had a great holiday spending time with my Mum and Dad
and seeing my aunt. I’ve shared a picture of Russell to show how
beautiful our nature is.
View over Russell
Community Connections ~ 19Sandra’s walk
By Bronwyn Edwards, support worker
Sandra enjoyed a lovely walk around the fountain and the statue
of Pania of the Reef on a bright sunny morning in Napier. She was
brave enough to walk out to the very end of the lookout. Even
though she was worried at first that the waves might reach us, we
went on to the balcony where she loved looking out at the sea and
down on the crashing waves.
Above left, on the beach; on the
lookout; with Pania of the Reef
20 ~ Community ConnectionsYou can also read
