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“Hi, we’re the environmental leaders at Highton Primary School, Phoebe Wright and James Zerafa, from Grade 6. Clean Up Australia Day is this Sunday, March 3rd and we’re running our School Clean Up Australia event, leading up to the day. We’re both really passionate about the environment.”

Phoebe adds “My family are part of Geelong Sustainability. I live near the beach and know about Take3fortheSea where people are encouraged to pick up rubbish off the beach and take it home. I’m passionate about keeping the beach clean.”

James implores “Please don’t drop rubbish, it’s bad for the environment and animals. It ends up in our waterways and gets swept out to sea. I’ve seen terrible pictures of sea creatures entangled in rubbish. We’re really proud of all the kids who helped clean up our school yard and at assembly next week we are going to ask the students to make sure they don’t drop any more rubbish. We hope heaps of people go out on Sunday and help Clean Up Australia.”

Go to www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au to find a Clean Up Site near you.

Most of us have heard the saying ‘You are what you eat’, but have you ever considered that what you eat also affects your mental and brain health? We caught up with Director of the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University, Professor Felice Jacka to find out how this team of researchers are linking healthy diets to healthy minds.

Deakin University’s Food & Mood Centre is unique in the world in its focus on Nutritional Psychiatry. “Our primary aim is the development of new and targeted prevention and treatment strategies for mental disorders that are based on dietary modification.”  Professor Jacka explains that the ground-breaking research conducted so far by the Food & Mood Centre has revealed that unhealthy diets are a risk factor for depression across the lifespan and that changing a person’s diet can assist in overcoming clinical depression.  Professor Jacka calls Ocean Grove home, but has been travelling globally to present this information to the world.

Continue reading “Food and Mood Centre, Professor Felice Jacka.” →

“It’s the most incredible bunch of human beings you’d ever imagine,” proclaimed Luke Massey, the filmmaker behind upcoming television series ‘Be Dragons’ which follows the creation of Geelong’s first ever football team for people with disabilities – the Geelong Dragons. “Some of the stuff these people have been through, it would have broken me. But they just turn up and they smile the whole time. They have ups and downs like any footy team, but they’re so positive. They’re finally belonging to something that they’ve never been able to do. To them, they’re playing AFL.

“Geelong’s a pretty footy-mad town, it’s sort of like our identity. The Football Integration Development Association (FIDA) has been running for a few years but Geelong never had a team in it. There were one or two players who used to travel on the train to Melbourne. They’d leave at seven in the morning then get back at eight o’clock at night.

“The idea of making the team started with Tim Downes at Leisure Networks. They do an amazing job of putting together sport, recreation and all sorts of activities for young people who have disabilities. He looked into what leagues might be available and decided on the Western Districts League to start with.

Continue reading “Geelong Dragons.” →

Hi. My name is Ned Lancaster. I am 10 years old and in Grade 6 at Clairvaux Catholic Primary School. I am going to shave my head to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation.

I started to grow my hair when I was in Grade 3. When it started to get longer, I thought that it would be a good idea to grow it as long as I could and then shave it for the World’s Greatest Shave charity.

As it was growing, a lot of people commented that I had such great hair and that lots of people would love to have it. This gave me the idea to donate the hair to kids who had lost their hair from sickness through a charity called @Hair with Heart. I was going to shave in Grade 5, but my hair wasn’t long enough, so I had to wait another year. It’s finally long enough to make in to wigs, so on March 13th (which is also my 11th birthday) I am going to shave it all off.

Continue reading “World’s Greatest Shave, Ned” →

“Did you know, you could receive up to $500 to go towards educations costs. Saver Plus is a matched savings and financial education program which is offered locally by Bethany Community Support. PLEASE SHARE. Saver Plus assists individuals and families on lower incomes to build their savings for educational costs and improve their financial management skills.”

Saver Plus:

         Matches savings for education costs dollar-for-dollar up to $500

         Includes fun, informal financial education workshops

         Provides assistance and support to establish a savings goal and develop a savings habit

Continue reading “Saver Plus, Bethany” →

“Dad died suddenly and unexpectedly 4 years ago of a heart attack and it left us shattered. He was a very healthy 63-year-old who loved walking, so as a tribute we decided to hold a ‘Walk for Johno’.” We hear from Johno’s daughter, Bek Spencer. “This will be the fourth ‘Walk for Johno’ and the last due to family and work commitments, so we want it to be the biggest and the best.

“The walk aims to raise awareness of heart disease and bring sufferers and their loved ones together. We’re on track to raise over a $100,000 for The Heart Foundation, we’ve raised $73k so far. We hope our support of The Heart Foundation will help to stop this tragedy happening to other families. Mum and Dad had been married since they were 20. He was a very community minded man and loved by all.

Continue reading “Walk for Johno, Bek.” →

“This story that I heard at the University Scholars Leadership Symposium about Humanitarian Affairs, affected me the most: It was about 9-year-old Ian from Shanghai. We all remember the joyful memories of playgrounds right? Well, Ian grew up surrounded by friends from all over the world in his International School but he quickly learnt that most children in Liberia, West Africa have never seen or even heard of a playground before… This didn’t sit right with Ian so he decided he’d change this.

“With the help of google and a few emails sharing his vision to one of the senators in Liberia, Ian was soon the proud owner of 2 empty soccer fields…yet still without a playground.

“Using online resources only, Ian found a company that takes old playgrounds and ships them around the world but he needed $82k to support this – he told his teacher, classmates, family and friends about his plan and before he knew it the entire community was supporting his vision.

Continue reading “Simren” →

“We are proud to make a difference in the lives of others.” ‘The Tree of Life’ Tour was specifically cultivated for women to take a journey from their head to their heart. This tour was led by local entrepreneur Ali Villani and Katrina Webb, Para-Olympian from Adelaide. Ali tells us more. “We took two groups of about 10 women, back to back, in October to Nepal. Our aim is for the women to learn leadership skills through helping others by using their time, their talent and their treasure.

“The trips are 8 days and technologies are put away so the women learn to be in the present moment. A lot of reflection takes place as we talk extensively about what we’ve seen and felt for the day.

“Initially we learn about the culture, Buddhism and Hinduism and visit temples. Then there was a leadership day involving us and Nepalese entrepreneurs. It is based on the book ‘Ali the Shiny Sparkly Unicorn.’ We talk about the issues that we are facing and find they are the same for both cultures. Dr Tshering Lama spoke and we create a way to continue supporting each other.

Continue reading “Tree of Life Tour, Nepal, Ali” →

“Without Reclink, I probably wouldn’t have stayed in treatment and quite possibly might not be around today,” states Rhan Harris. He’s the Sports Coordinator for the Geelong office of Reclink Australia, and has first-hand experience of the life-changing impact the organisation’s activities can have on disadvantaged members of the community.

“Reclink run activities every weekday for clients of welfare groups such as drug and alcohol rehab services, police groups and crisis accommodation centres. The organisation started on the streets of St Kilda as an outreach recreation program for Sacred Heart clients. A very small football kick-to-kick grew into a team which grew into a league which spread around Australia. As it grew it started to encompass other programs such as cricket, passive activities like tai chi and the arts, and now has around 100,000 diverse participation opportunities each year.

Continue reading “Reclink Geelong, Rhan” →

What would you do with $325,568? Would you go on a holiday? go to a concert? buy a house? This amount is how much on average is spent in the Geelong region on Pokie machines each day.

Harm occurring from gambling is a big public health issue in our Geelong community. Current research demonstrates that just over $118 million was spent in the 2017/18 financial year in the Geelong region alone, and this has been expected to increase in this financial year.

Continue reading “Gambler’s Help, Bethany.” →