On Saturday, October 30, a group of BCA National representatives attended the Annual KARI Dinner.

It was a very enjoyable night as we witnessed special performances by young and upcoming Indigenous talent; from singing and cultural dancing, to professional performances from Blake Ralph, Sarah Bertram and the Yulu-Gi Dance Company. We were also privileged enough to share our table with Jennifer Mason - Director General for the Department of Human Services who was a pleasure to speak and network with.

It wasn’t long before we all hit the floor and danced the night away. There was live music, as well as plenty of good spirits and happy feet to boogie with.

The night was truly a celebration of community, acknowledgement and talent. Most of all, it was a night to celebrate equality and oneness for all in the room.

“We’re all brothers and sisters here, it doesn’t matter who you are,” stated Wendy Chapman (BCA National KARI student).

This perfectly summarised the purpose of the night.

A special thank you to Bruce, Jenny, Sophia, Kaisha, Rhys and Lauren for attending on the night.

A special congratulations to Harry Callahan who coordinated the event as well as Kylie Miller, Troy Ruttley and the BCA National KARI students who performed a dance routine on the night - they were fantastic!

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Last Wednesday 3^rd Feb, it was a pleasure to attend the first graduation ceremony of 2010. This ceremony was for the 2010 Community Services NSW, Bathurst NGO Certificate IV in Business and Certificate IV in Business (Frontline Management) dual qualification group. (To tell you the truth, I’m not even sure any of us could say the whole qualification title in one breath!) As all participants arrived bright and early, most seemed just as delighted to catch up with fellow classmates as receive their certificates.

It was also such a delight to have John Purcell from Community Services NSW speak on behalf of their organisation to congratulate and support the new graduates. Once all participants were presented with certificates and graduates were congratulated, the graduates had organised some very sweet surprise thank you gifts for their trainer and myself presented by Leanne Ferris and Leanne Shackell. After the presentations of certificates, gifts and congrats, all attended a delightful lunch catching up and sharing stories. It was a pleasure to see, that not only had the students gained practical skills and knowledge to apply in their current workplace but the friendship bonds they had made were guaranteed to stick with them for a lifetime.

Congratulations to the 2010 Community Services NSW, Bathurst NGO Certificate IV in Business and Certificate IV in Business (Frontline Management) dual qualification group!

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This morning’s orientation group was so diverse with participants travelling from all over NSW including QLD just to be at training.

John Purcell from DoCS tends to speak at the DoCS (Now Community Services) Orientations.  As John introduces himself, he tends to poke fun at my sporting preferences, particularly choice of NRL team. John goes for the Bunnies (mind you; they have been the wooden spooners 3 times in the past 6 years). Whereas my team is the Sydney City Roosters who were only wooden spoons last year due to an unfortunate technical difficulty. As John discussed his love for sport including golf and ironing, the participants began cheering and yelling out their own teams they were so passionate about.

By this stage the topic of conversation was sport, participants were talking about their love for sport; boating, golfing, rugby union, rugby league, skiing, dancing, soccer and it goes on.

One story which caught my attention was from Lee Robinson, he works with homeless men. He had just come back from Milan after taking 2 homeless men with him to compete in the World Homeless Soccer Cup. These 2 men trained every Tuesday to make it for selection, no home, no family, no income, just the love of soccer. These men did not win the competition, however out of 40 nations competing, they won best and fairest. Lee had photos of the 2 men and the trip to Milan, including a photo with the FIFA World Cup Trophy (this trophy is under constant security and hardly ever accessible) such an amazing story, not only the first time on a plane but the start of a new life for these 2 men. These 2 gentlemen are now back in Sydney, unfortunately one is still homeless the other now in independent housing and just got his first job.

http://www.homelessworldcup.org/content/players

It’s amazing how much sport can bring people together, more importantly how good it makes us feel. The vibe in the room by the end of the orientation was amazing, everyone felt good and more-so we found out that even if you don’t play sport, just talking about it makes you just as hungry.

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