People generally celebrate their birthdays with one party, but Parkes Quota is kicking off its 60th birthday this year by hosting the annual regional conference over three days at the end of May.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Quotarian friends from near and far will be joining us for the occasion, and, with a theme of ‘Girls Just Like To Have Fun’, it’s going to be quite a party.
There’s no doubt that the fun and friendship enjoyed by the members of Parkes Quota has a lot to do with our club’s success, but equally important is the service work we do in the community.
Reviewing our work this year I was amazed how much our local club has achieved.
Hearing & Speech is one of Quota’s particular briefs, and five Sound Field Systems have been placed in, or are on their way to, local schools this year making a total of 17 since 2014.
These are greatly appreciated by not only the hearing impaired children, but the teachers and other students in the classrooms who also benefit greatly.
We have also paid for hearing testing for all the children at the Early Education Centre whose parents are given follow up advice when needed.
These days all newborn babies are screened for hearing loss, but many children develop conditions like glue ear after birth and as these often go unnoticed for a long time follow up screening is very important.
We also collect old hearing aids (boxes are in the pharmacies and other places) which are used for Pro Bono work in Fiji, and we donate annually to Quota’s South Pacific Area scholarship fund for further training and research in Hearing and Speech.
Locally, as always, we supplied Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day cakes to our nursing homes, laid a wreath at the Dawn Service on Anzac Day and donated a prize to each of our Parkes Schools for their end of year awards.
We cooked and served a delicious afternoon tea for Cancer survivors and their families and friends at Relay For Life and we continued to support the Birth To Kindergarten reading program by supplying books to take home from the hospital for the newborn babies.
We raised over $2,000 for Ronald McDonald House in Orange, which is often utilised by Parkes people, by raffling a beautiful quilt made by Quotarian Janet O’Donoghue, and last month gave $1000 to Life Education at the Swimathon.
We partnered with Stephanie Loader to give a grant to the Parkes High School to run ‘a girls program’ to inspire and empower girls to achieve their goals and become potential leaders in their communities.
At Southern Cross Village residents enjoy fortnightly art classes run by Robyn Morrissey and her willing helpers.
In March, 190 women came together to celebrate the achievements of women on International Women’s Day and enjoyed a beautiful lunch and wonderful entertainment.
By contrast, after hearing Daniel Greef speaking of domestic violence in Parkes, we decided to help some of the victims, many of whom arrive at police stations with only the clothes they are wearing, by supplying them with emergency packs of personal hygiene products.
We also served breakfast to 25 to 35 hungry children on Thursdays at Parkes Public School.
It’s not easy to learn on an empty stomach.
Most recently, Quota was asked by our Council and its Heritage Advisor to host the inaugural Heritage Houses Open Day, which we did with some help from our National Trust friends to man the houses, and also we provided morning teas and lunches for many visitors.
Of course, there’s more.
But if you’ve read this far I’m sure you will understand why I am proud to be a Quotarian and why I hope that you will encourage and support our Quota Club in all our endeavours, and, if you think you might like to join us in our work and play, please give me a call on 0407 486 612.
New members and their ideas are always welcomed by Parkes Quota Club.