Maroondah Citizens Advice Bureau Inc

A worker from the Migrant Information Centre in Box Hill gave us a very moving and informative talk about the difficulties of migrants, both leaving their own countries as refugees and assimilating into our community. Tial was from Burma and had to flee from her village with her two children when things became difficult for her after her husband had left to escape from the opposition army. After he was settled in Australia he was able to get his family out of the refugee camp in Malasyia and bring them to Melbourne. Tial was a primary teacher in her homeland and spoke some English.   Now she works with other migrants, helping them to settle into our ways which can be so different from their own cultures. Coming from very poor areas where learning is minimal and life is very basic it is quite a cultural shock  for many of them to use electricity, have running water or live with only one family to each house. There are about 1800-2000 Burmese people in the outer eastern area.

For more information contact the Migrant Information Centre (Eastern Melbourne)

Suite 2/27  Bank Street    Box Hill

Phone      9285 4888

or call in to the Ringwood or Croydon office of Maroondah CAB

Miadie from Wesley Homeless Services/ Opening Doors gave a very informative talk.

Wesley runs this service for clients over 16 years of age in need of accommodation due to a  crisis situation such as domestic violence, loss of family support or loss of rental accommodation.  It is only a short term solution where accommodation can be found for a night or two until a  more permanent solution is possible. Wesley sees about 400-500 clients a month.

In the eastern region the Opening Doors are situated at :

Wesley in Ringwood : 8870 4020

Anchor in Lilydale : 9760 6400

Harrisons in Wantirna South : 9871 8700

Community Housing Limited in Box Hill : 9856 0050

Eastcare in Hawthorn : 9851 7888

It is preferable for clients to phone Opening Doors to discuss options and make an appointment if possible.

Afterhours Response : 1800 882500

Available 5 p.m. – 10 p.m. Monday to Friday and

9 a.m. – 10 p.m. weekends and Public holidays.

The after hours service is run via a call centre and is a phone srevice only. There is no face to face assistance. Accommodation may be provided until the next working day when the client must present at one of the Opening Door offices.

The March talk will be given by a worker from Ethnic Affairs.

A reminder that the AGM will be held on 1 April 2011 at 3 p.m. in the Ringwood Room.

 From January 2011 the Croydon office is now open

 Monday,  Tuesday,  Wednesday and  Friday from 9.30 a.m. till 1.00p.m.

The meeting was well attended and heard a very lively talk by Bern from the Ringwood Library and also an update of our new computer systems by Colin Patterson.

The Ringwood and Croydon  libraries are part of the Eastern Regional Library System which includes libraries in Knox and Yarra Ranges as well as Maroondah. Library membership is free.

The Ringwood library has been open since 1970 and moved to its present site in 1995.  Borrowers have 560,000 articles to choose from including books,  magazines, audiotapes, DVDs  and CDs.  1,000,000 articles have been loaned by the Croydon and Ringwood libraries and over 3,000,000 throughout the area this year.

Services range from reading to the ‘littlies’ at Storytime,  services to the house bound and genealogy including  Army records are available on Ancestry.com.  There are also 295 book clubs and book discussions are held on the last Monday and Wednesday of the month in the Ringwood Room.

Boronia Branch keeps the Literacy program and this is available for Library card holders.

Chinese books are kept at Rowville and Vietnamese at Knox. 

Story telling to cultural and linguistically diverse groups such as those from Sudan and China is also available.

Two specialised officers also read to those in nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals which has resulted in a great improvement in health outcomes.

All libraries are wi-fi linked and have free internet services.

Library access is available 24 hours via the website at www.erl.vic.gov.au.

Addresses of the libraries, telephone numbers  and hours of opening can be found in the Maroondah Community Guide which is available from the CAB offices.

The Christmas lunch will replace the December meeting and there will be no meeting in January.

A reminder that the offices will  close  from 17th. December and open again on 17th. January 2011.

Please note that the Croydon office is now open on Tuesdays from 9.30 am until  1 pm.

Other opening hours remain the same.

The meeting had no guest speaker but took the form of an “In House” round table discussion group. It was well attended and there was a successful exchange of ideas and discussion of policy outcomes.

The Christmas break-up in December  will take the form of a lunch for the Volunteers.

The offices will be closed over the holidays from 17 December 2010 and will re-open on 17 January 2011.

The subject for the September training was ‘Valuing Volunteers’. Robyn Wyatt gave us a very animated talk on this topic which is always near to our hearts. We know Robyn as ‘our bread lady’ as she arrives most Monday mornings with a load of bread donated by her community in Manningham. Always bright and cheerful Robyn is a welcome visitor.

Robyn and her husband are Pastors and in this capacity have travelled the world doing voluntary charity work. Volunteers are  essential workers in the community. Think of all the organisations almost totally reliant on their input, as well as our area of community care, sporting groups, environmental groups, guides at Art galleries and the Museum, schools libraries and fetes, play groups etc., the list is endless.

Robyn quoted some statistics from the ABS in 2006. 

 5.2 million people over 18 years participated in voluntary work  (34%) of the population giving  713 million hours of their time and saving 8-10% of Victoria’s gross product or $10 billion per year.

Young people are being targeted to encourage them to volunteer. They like moving from one experience to another and often stay only a few months with any one group. Volunteering is encouraged by example from parents and grandparents.

To show how much we are valued Robyn presented each of us with a small box containing positive words and a spring bulb to be planted to show that from small beginnings larger things grow and flourish. Volunteering  requires commitment but the rewards are personally rewarding and volunteers often say they get more than they give.

If you would like to volunteer and need ideas about how, where and what, the two MCABI offices have lists available.

The speaker at the August training was Derek from North Ringwood Care, an organisation MCABI helped and advised when they were developing their services , and Derek thanked those present for their support at that time. North Ringwood Care has now a group of about 40 volunteers who are trained in -house over a period of time on a specific training model. A computer base can track clients progress.  Limited funds are available for filling prescriptions and dental costs. Financial counselling and a pre-school program are offered through the church. An important feature is the vegetable garden which is tended byVolunteers, a disabled group and some school children. Produce grown is then offered to the clients. Thank you Derek for a very interesting and informative talk.

On Friday 16 July the Community Liaison Co-ordinator for the Family Relationship Centre in Ringwood gave a very comprehensive talk on the work of the Centre.

The Family Relationship Centre (FRC) was created in 2006 through the Australian Government to relieve the back-log of custody problems handled by the Family Court. Now parents can only apply to the Family Law Court after a genuine effort has been made to resolve disputed problems through FRC.  Exceptions are made in cases of family violence or abuse, or if an application is urgent or already in the Court system.

FRC focuses on what is best for the children and, to preserve good relationships with Grandparents and other family members , they may be included in the mediation process, as well as the parents. Children are acutely aware of ongoing conflict so the emphasis is on keeping the adults focused on their needs during the separation process and afterwards.

An initial screening process is conducted by phone. Then a one hour information session is organised.

Confidentiality is paramount at all meetings.

Mediation only supp;ies agreements which are not legally binding and should mediation fail the matter will proceed to Court.  However, a success rate  of about 80% is achieved in most cases in 8-10 weeks. The Court system often takes much longer with an initial waiting period which is not good for either the children or the parents.

For more information call Family Mediation Centre,  68 Charter Street,  Ringwood 3134

 phone   direct:  9871 6301   or mobile : 0439 558  334

www.familyrelationships.gov.au    Email: tmmcgregor@ringwoodfrc.org.au

or call in to one of the  CAB offices during open times for information pamphlets.

20 Volunteers attended a very comprehensive talk by the CEO of CIVIC which is the peak body for Community Information and Support Centres in Victoria. The small office was established in 1970 to collect information on referral services and statistics which enables them as a lobby group to act as a voice for the sector with government and other peak bodies.

CIVIC also runs the training courses for the Volunteers who work in the 61 bureaux throughout the state. The training course consists of  50 hours of class work and ‘hands on’ work in the bureau.