HuG

At 24, Joshua Maxwell de Hoog is already a prolific artist and business owner in Geelong. He has been creating and presenting his artwork and photography for six years, and since then has branched his artistic wings to any medium he can find, including sculpture. Joshua’s inspiration is drawn from growing up around highly compassionate people, he says. His father was a pastor, and his mother volunteered in the community. “Being generous creates and gives back.”

With an undoubtable passion for the arts in Geelong, Joshua encourages budding artists to get out there.  When asked what advice he would give to emerging artists in Geelong, he replied that “The most important thing is that you don’t work for a sale – produce work for the sake of making work. The world has plenty of commercial art, but the world doesn’t yet have you.”

Continue reading “Artist, Joshua” →

“I don’t know how to describe how enjoyable the experience was…” “I learnt so many valuable life lessons”, reflections sent to Geelong Director of Tournament of Minds, Peter Lamb. Teams of seven mixed year-level students around Australia and overseas are about to embark on a 6-week journey to come up with a creative solution to an open-ended challenge in one of four disciplines. It’s called ‘Tournament of Minds.’

Judges Required! There are primary and secondary divisions for each challenge category, the groups are judged by panels of three judges with relevant but diverse backgrounds. Typically, between 30 and 40 judges are needed on tournament day. The key requirements as a judge are knowing how to be supportive of the students, to be able to give positive and constructive feedback, and to be able to recognise originality and creativity.  Some training is given but new judges are always placed with experienced judges. It is a rewarding role, working with the future leaders of our community.

Continue reading “Tournament of Minds, Peter” →

A world leading Geelong-based research group is showing the world how to win the fight against childhood obesity by working with local communities. “Our proven strategy is to empower the community to make a difference. We’ve found our model works, we have data showing success and our approach is now rolling out to help communities solve a variety of complex social problems including substance abuse, climate change, suicide and community health planning.

“The exciting thing is we’ve seen real change where the whole community is working together to tackle childhood obesity. These communities are taking the lead; http://www.seachangeportland.com.au http://www.genr8change.com. I want you to look them up, share their ideas and spread the great message.”

Continue reading “GLOBE, Steve” →

Cutting hair for the homeless – We are thrilled to announce that @The Street’s Barber will be giving a talk and demo cut at the Humans in Geelong Expo on Sunday 7^th of October. PLEASE SHARE! Nasir Sobhani, also known as ‘The Streets’ Barber,’ has earned his affectionate title spending his time taking to Melbourne and Geelong’s streets offering free haircuts and shaves to the homeless and less fortunate. His inspirational story of compassion and generosity has received significant attention globally. Nasir was also one of the five to be profiled as part of the Kenneth Cole Courageous Class Campaign in New York, celebrating individuals who have overcome obstacles in life to become inspiring role models.

He is an inspirational speaker certain to motivate and encourage all those who encounter him to find their own purpose.

Nasir has an exceptional manner of connecting marginalised people with the greater community. Providing a ‘voice to the voiceless,’ he shares the unique stories of the homeless he encounters on social media platforms reaching far and wide. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/1639c3aa1f1768fd?projector=1

Continue reading “The Streets’ Barber, Nasir” →

“We’re bringing 1,900 new smart economy jobs to Geelong with the creation of the Pivot City Innovation District. It started in 2013 when Cameron Hamilton developed a plan to transform the Federal Mills from dilapidated textile factory into a tech-park. Since then, it has become a melting pot that celebrates start-ups, incubators, entrepreneurs and growing businesses.

We’ve created an inspirational collaborative, community and a space for outstanding events like the Pivot Summit that brought Steve Wozniak to Geelong.” Now alongside Andrew Hamilton, the Geelong brothers are expanding on the existing success and increasing demand to add re-developments of the waterfront Power Station and former Pilkington Glass Factory to create the Pivot City Innovation District. Humans in Geelong had the pleasure of meeting Property Developers, Cameron and Andrew Hamilton at the launch celebrating Geelong’s listing as a City of Design by UNESCO.

Continue reading “Pivot City Innovation District” →

We started making bird boxes for rosellas with the local school kids and loved it so much we ended up making 150 boxes for 9 different species “I used to keep birds in cages – I would never do that anymore”, said Bob. He is quietly passionate about looking after our wild bird populations and helping them to flourish. We spoke to Bob Evans and Shane McManus from the St Leonards Men’s Shed.

‘We‘d like to raise awareness about the immense value of those old gum trees for our native animals. And also try and protect the ones that are left and give them the potential to regenerate seedlings. Those old gums need 100 years to produce the hollows that are suitable for wildlife. Many people are using these old gums for firewood so that is why there is a need for breeding and habitat boxes for birds and mammals.

Continue reading “Bird Boxes” →

River’s Gift and The Mik Maks have released their brand new music clip to the catchy kids song ‘Hope the Elephant’! ‘Hope’ is River’s Gift’s beautiful big blue mascot – she’s bright, cuddly, colourful and kids all over the world will just love her. Our music clip also sends the very powerful message of uniting together to help ‘Stamp Out SIDS’. River’s Gift, founded in Geelong, is the largest source of funding for SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) research in Australia. We’ve generated over $1 million to help fund research, provide safe sleep education and build awareness awareness around this tragic and heartbreaking syndrome. You can read the story about River’s Gift here: https://humansingeelong.com/2016/10/23/rivers-gift-karl/ River would have been seven on Monday. The River’s Gift supporters have long been referred to as the River’s Gift family and sadly, on Easter Monday this year, we lost an integral part of that family, Dean McInnes, loved and cherished member of the Mik Maks. This was the last video that he filmed. We hope your family enjoys the clip, ‘Hope the Elephant’. PLEASE SHARE. Please let us know what you think in the YouTube comments, please like and share! Click here to view.

 

 

2.45am – It’s frighteningly freezing, the ground is excruciatingly hard. Being a still night there’s no howl of the wind but contrastingly, the menacing mechanical noises are accentuated. There’s the torturing sound of trains roaring past, the relentless drone of traffic and harrowing rumble of trucks.

We’re undercover, have been fed by the Vinnies soup kitchen and are watched over by security, so fear and hunger don’t come into our equation.

The two guest speakers for the night opened our eyes to the fact that anyone is only an incident away from being struggling or homeless. Two educated women told their stories. This could happen to anyone.

One night for me, sleeping between friends, endless lonely nights for others. Let’s work together to ease this suffering.

Continue reading “CEOSleepout Geelong, home truths” →

Tonight, we’ll be sleeping outside at GMHBA Stadium, in freezing conditions, with nothing more than a piece of cardboard and a sleeping bag. Bec Picone, Brandon Dellow and myself, Jacqui Bennett will be representing the Humans in Geelong team. We are doing it to raise awareness and much needed funds to help our local homeless. It’s not too late to donate. Go to www.ceosleepout.org.au/fundraisers/humansingeelong  and donate to the Humans in Geelong Team.

Last night my partner and I had the pleasure of attending the Kardinia Rotary Club’s changeover dinner. Very unexpectedly, I was honoured to be awarded with a Paul Harris Fellow for my commitment to Humans in Geelong. Kardinia Rotary were the first group that I presented to and I thank them for their belief in the Humans in Geelong project and continual support. Thank you to Rotarians Althea Abraham and Kathy Ryan who joined our team. They bring a wealth of understanding, compassion and expertise. Thank you to all our team members and the community.

This beautiful photo of last Wednesday’s sunset was sent in by loyal follower Michelle Mikk Nichols.

“Volunteering led me to where I am now. I graduated with a Bachelor of Health Sciences in Health Promotion. I wanted to work in the field of preventative health measures, to impart knowledge and strengthen the community. I quickly found the positions that I was applying for were going to people who had at least 5+ years’ experience in the field. I felt a little deflated after my investment and expectation of completing a degree at university. This led me to consider volunteering while working part-time – I signed up with Lifeline for 2 years and this was the edge I needed to get into my preferred field of employment.

“I highly recommend volunteering if you lack industry experience” Humans in Geelong met Emily Learey at the Gordon Skills and Jobs Centre where there was a panel talking about the benefits of volunteering for your career.

Emily is employed as the genU volunteer program lead. In 2016 Karingal and St Laurence merged and were rebranded genU. “It stands for Generation You and we work with younger people through to the elderly in the fields of disability and aged care.

Continue reading “genU, Emily” →