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Meet our local Victoria Young Australian award nominee: Keeden Graham

“Since that moment I’ve taken opportunities that don’t let me become comfortable and complacent.” Torquay local Keeden Graham describes a meaningful moment in his personal journey, recalling the day when he’d lost his job. “I was pretty upset about it. But then I gave my Dad a call and, surprisingly, he said “Good! Did you really want to be doing that for the rest of your life? You have so much potential!”. 

Keeden Graham has ever since gone on to make a difference in the lives of Aboriginal youth in the local community and beyond, and is now most deservedly a 2022 Victoria Young Australian of the Year award nominee!

Keeden is a Yorta-Yorta, Wiradjuri, and Dja Dja Wurrung man, a board member of the Ngarrimili Charity, a member of the Victorian Youth Congress, a former council member of the Youth Council at the Commission for Children and Young People, and is Manager and Deputy CEO of Strong Brother Strong Sister, “a 100 per cent Aboriginal-owned-and-operated organisation, that provides a culturally appropriate and safe place to help Aboriginal young people thrive.” 

Now 22yrs old, Keeden has been involved in improving the lives of young people for the past four years, inspired by what he learned when searching for his own sense of identity and belonging as a teen.

“From that personal journey I saw heaps of other young indigenous people who don’t have that sense of belonging and that connection to their community and their family. This is what inspired me to help and walk along-side them. It’s hard to find your purpose if you don’t have that sense of connection to your local community.”  

Continue reading “Keeden Graham.” →

WHY DID I VOLUNTEER FOR THIS?

I was new to Geelong.

No family or friends.

Online, I noticed an opportunity to join EdConnect.

They train and support volunteers to work in local schools to provide a safety net for young people who might otherwise struggle to realise their potential – in school and life.

I am semi-retired, (due to health issues – like growing old) who misses the cut and thrust of being self-employed.

As a professional business coach and mentor, I felt that I may be suitable to mentoring children.

How easy could this be?

How wrong was I?

And so we begin…..

Kids are so vulnerable.

Their life is governed by their upbringing and surrounding lifestyles.

Choices are made for them.

Compared to adults in business – who have the choice of making their own decisions.

Back to the story.

Continue reading “EdConnect” →

Kids, win one of three $100 vouchers. Make a Kindness Art piece, about the size of A4, it could be 2D or 3D, that can hang from a tree or fence at the Humans in Geelong Expo 2021. Bring it along and attach it on the day. Sunday 5th December from 10-3pm at the Geelong Racecourse.

Make sure you have your name, age and school name on it. You could add a kindness/inclusiveness message.

We have teamed up with VALID’s peer action group, the Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability to present this competition.

The International Day for People with Disability (IDPwD) is on Friday 3^rd of December. The art pieces will be collected and distributed by this group.

Be creative! This can be made at home or at school.

Offering unforgettable eco-tourism experiences with wild dolphins and seals, James knew he had a responsibility to help sustain and restore the health of the ocean environment. Therefore, he integrated an environmental levy onto each dolphin ticket sold to generate funds to support SOEL and their research initiatives. Southern Ocean Environmental Link (SOEL) is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2019 by Sea All Dolphin Swims director James Murphy.

SOEL exists to foster and implement unique programs that change humanities attitude towards the marine environment. To ensure tomorrow’s generation are prepared to sustain and restore the health of our oceans. Our purpose is to educate tomorrow’s leaders about current trends, future implications and take responsibility for the place we call home. We do this by supporting research initiatives that help us to understand our ocean and the pressure it faces. Through sponsorship and fundraising efforts, we facilitate inclusive marine experiences, known to create marine advocates for life.

Already SOEL has helped to support significant research and environmental concerns in the Port Phillip Bay marine environment. Our current projects include Popes Eye Marine Park above and submerged live stream camera, Artificial Intelligence for monitoring Burrunan Dolphin, Australian Fur Seal and Weedy Seadragon species, as well as our one-of-a-kind Plastic Recycling Workshop. Further details about each of these projects can be found at www.soel.org.

Our favoured education program is the Grassroots Plastic Recycling Workshop. This innovative program will be exhibited at the Humans in Geelong Expo to bring awareness of plastic’s negative impacts on our local marine environment. Participants will be invited to become actively involved in the process of plastic recycling in this hands-on and motivating workshop. During the workshop, participants will be educated on the short- and long-term impacts of plastic pollution while sorting, cleaning, and repurposing the plastics into valuable items. This program creatively creates awareness of this global issue by educating participants on the active part they can play to make a positive impact.

The Free Expo is Sunday 5^th December at the Geelong Racecourse from 10-3pm. The fun-filled program can be found at: https://humansingeelong.com/humans-in-geelong-expo-2021/

Good News! The FREE Humans in Geelong Expo is on Sunday 5^th December from 10-3pm at the Geelong Racecourse and there will be no capacity limits whatsoever. This is going to be the biggest freedom party Geelong and region has seen. PLEASE SHARE!

New to the program are TK’s Jumping Castle, Roaming Reptiles, Sarah Cole with her new teenage fiction and the Torquay Lions mini train. On stage will be the Mik Maks, Sweethearts and more. There are over 30 inspiring exhibitors, 12 local artists, 12 thought-provoking speakers, food trucks and lots of fun for the kids.

Thanks ‘Geelong Times’ for your continued support and for summing it up so well. For the full program, visit our website. https://humansingeelong.com/humans-in-geelong-expo-2021/

Humans in Geelong Inc NFP are a team of volunteers who aim to inspire, connect and strengthen community.

“I decided that I wanted to write a book where the main female lead is strong, confident, determined and tough. I was over senior girls bringing in books where the lead character was pushed around, scared or cried all the time about boys! I just thought enough is enough I’m actually going to write a strong lead that students could relate to.”

We are talking to Sarah Cole today, a primary and secondary teacher who works at Northern Bay P-12 College in Corio. “When I was young, I attended Newcomb Secondary College and then onto Matthew Flinders SC for VCE. I currently live in Ocean Grove. I’ve been teaching for 13 years, with 8 of them at Northern Bay! I love talking and working with students, seeing them learn and laugh to me is so fantastic- honestly it is fun every day!

Continue reading “Sarah Cole.” →

October is Mental Health Month. Anna Argyros shares her experience. “3 years ago, I plucked up enough courage to organize my 1st fundraiser for mental illness, which is very close to my heart, in my hometown Geelong, with the amazing help and support from family, friends, businesses, customers and just people in general. In just 4 months, we raised the astounding amount of $42,000-00

“I was so overwhelmed with people’s generosity, I couldn’t thank them enough. Honestly, I couldn’t have done it without them.

“I wrote out a $20,000-00 cheque to Geelong Lifeline and a $20,000-00 cheque to Geelong Barwon Health Swanston Psychiatric Centre.”

Why a fundraiser for mental illness?

“I’ve been battling with this illness since childhood.

“At a young age I started having all these crazy thoughts in my head. I thought I was going mad and I didn’t belong. I was so scared to talk about it in fear of losing friends and loved ones.

“As the years went past, I was getting worse and having severe mood swings. I couldn’t function mentally or physically to the point of not being able to work, let alone do anything else. My parents realized I badly needed help and took me to our family doctor who referred me to a psychiatrist.

Continue reading “Mental Health Month.” →

This lovely gentleman cycles around the Barwon River tracks picking up rubbish. One of our readers met him and thought he was worthy of an acknowledgement.

He told her he picks up cigarette butts, rubbish, dog waste bags, anything that’s not meant to be there.

Humans in Geelong like to highlight people who are making a difference. We run a Clean Up Australia site every year. We promote a number of clean up initiatives:

•  The Victorian Government’s litter watch program invites you to volunteer to be Citizen Scientists and collect, record and catergorise rubbish from along our coastlines.
• Take 5 for the Sea is easy, we do it anytime we go to the beach.
• We also promote the Sea Shepard Beach clean ups.

We support environmental groups like Fridays for Future, The Surfriders Foundation, Transitions Streets and Geelong Sustainability who are holding their virtual Sustainable House Day tomorrow and Sunday. Check out their website for more details.

Geelong Renewables Not Gas will be exhibiting and speaking at our free Expo on Sunday 5^th December at the Geelong Racecourse.

Pop in the comments what you do or what you’ve seen.

Thanks for sending the picture in Jenefer Hearn.

The Geelong Racecourse has said YES to hosting the free Humans in Geelong Expo 2021. It’s Sunday 5^th December 10-3pm and we are SO excited. This is a lovely large space. There are three large rooms upstairs for speakers, with beautiful views of the track. There is an undercover open space with large open doors either end for the exhibitors and a separate downstairs space for our exhibiting artists. The stage will be set up undercover to deliver non-stop music and dancing.

There will be food and drink trucks so that that you can make a day of it. There will be an interactive SES truck. We plan to have a jumping castle and animal farm in addition to all the fun that’s planned for the kids.

It is so exciting. Be sure to check out the program on our website. There will be something for everyone and everyone is welcome.

Photos of the venue supplied.

Could the hilarious Megan English be Geelong’s answer to Celeste Barber? We caught up with Megan and asked what she was up to.

“I’m frocking up for Frocktober, the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation’s annual fundraiser.  It’s heaps of fun.

“Each day of October I wear a frock and post about it on social media and my generous friends, family and followers donate.  This is my 7th year of participating and so far, I’ve raised $22,365 with a goal of a further $3000 in 2021.”

Why Ovarian Cancer? “Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynaecological cancer that claims the life of an Australian women every eight hours.  Symptoms are vague or non-existent which means that it is often not detected until at a late and difficult to treat stage.  The Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation funds the search for an early detection test which would become part of women’s health screening like mammograms and pap smears.  

Continue reading “Frocktober.” →