Good News StoriesWelcome to our website!Welcome to our new website - a new look design, up to date information, content-rich material, and an easy-to-use specialist system. We would like to extend a very big "Thank you" to Kate & Joel Finch at 2am WEBWORKS and Paul Sergeant & Associates for their assistance with this intensive and challenging project. We could not have done it without your assistance. We welcome your feedback - send comments to publicrelations@drugarm.com.au or phone us on (07) 3620 8811. News that's special... Outstanding young volunteers were rewarded for their achievements on Tuesday 22 April. Communities and Youth Minister Lindy Nelson-Carr presented seven individuals and one team of nine people with a Queensland Young Volunteer Award certificate and $2000 in prize money. DRUG ARM is proud to celebrate the achievements of one our volunteers, Samantha Natoli, who won an award. Congratulations Sam! Read the Statement  Each year the National Australia Bank (NAB) recognises best practice in volunteering by community organisations. On Monday, 10 September DRUG ARM was officially announced as the State Winner - Large Organisation, Queensland for our Street Outreach programs. Read more about the award here. Congratulations to the Queensland team for their ongoing dedication to such a worthwhile program. This award is well deserved.  North Brisbane SOS - our first outing!  Northside Van Report, 29 October 2007: Our team started the night at 7:30pm and headed to Tudor Ct in Margate. Redcliffe Area Youth Space had advised that there had been a few problems in this area about a month ago. We stopped at the park, opened the van up and kicked the football around for a while but it was all very quite so we moved on. The next stop was down on the Margate Beachfront and we made contact with a few people there. We continued along the water front (heading north) and came across a few groups of people on the beach. We stopped at Settlement Cove at Redcliffe and there was a big group of people hanging out there. They were really excited about having us there and were keen to kick the football around for a while. As people walked past, they would come and have a look and ask a few questions. It was a great location to make contact with lots of people. We spent quite a while at this stop. The van then drove up to Scarborough and found a group of youth in the car park smoking marijuana. They weren’t interested in having a chat so we moved on. We went for a drive through Deception Bay stopping at the Skate Park and just outside the shopping centre car park. There was a group of youth hanging out at the Skate Park that were keen to have a chat. They advised us that this was the local hang out and there wasn’t really much else to do in the area. We also went for a drive along the water front at Deception Bay and sighted a few girls. DRUG ARM then headed to North Lakes and drove through the estate next to the shopping centre. It was also pretty quite but we did come across a couple of boys playing on there skate boards but they were not interested in having a chat. We continued on down Anzac Ave heading towards Petrie. There was a big group of people hanging out at the KFC car park so we pulled over and had a chat with them. A lot of them had been drinking excessively. There was a bit of shoving and arguing that went on and the situation could have escalated very quickly. The team did not feel extremely comfortable in this situation. We then headed back to Redcliffe and pulled into the Redcliffe Skate Park on Oxley Ave but there was no one there. This was very surprising. Next time we will stop by a bit earlier in the evening to see when most people are there. The patrol finished at 12:30am.
We made contact with a total of 46 people and sighted a further 17 people. Amanda Weidenhofer Northern SOS Project Officer Redcliffe Office: 2/10 Wighton Street, Margate QLD 4019 Postal Address: GPO Box 590 Brisbane QLD 4001 Ph. (07) 3620 8800 Fax: (07) 3620 8801 Mob: 0439 663 494 Bundaberg office has a new home The new Bundaberg and Wide Bay office is situated at the Salter Oval sports ground in Takalvan Street, West Bundaberg. The office complex takes up the whole first floor of the new grandstand and comprises a seminar room, reception, kitchen, private counselling room, and a large office. Thanks to the following supporters who assisted in setting up our new home:
Thank you to everyone who was involved. All the work which has been put in to getting an office for Bundaberg has been really worthwhile when you see what we have ended up with. We now have a home. The Body Shop DRUG ARM in South Australia is fortunate enough to have been chosen as the ‘Community Project’ of The Body Shop store at Westfield Marion. The Body Shop is committed to supporting initiatives that contribute to the social and cultural growth of the local community and volunteering is one way through which this is accomplished. As such, staff at the Marion store will offer assistance to DRUG ARM operations in South Australia by providing staff to help out as volunteers, particularly at special events. DRUG ARM Australasia is grateful to have the support of The Body Shop, and our staff look forward to working in collaboration with the The Body Shop. Young boy donates his pocket money The day before the DRUG ARM Ipswich office closed for Christmas an 11 year old local boy named Mitchel donated a huge box of supplies for the IMPIP van. Items included cordial, soup, milo, tea, biscuits, etc. Mitchel decided to donate these goods after his parents explained to him and his younger sister that Christmas was more about being kind to others than receiving presents. With that Mitchel decided he wanted to do something for the less fortunate members of his community. Through a work friend of his mother Jodie, they decided to do something to help out with the DRUG ARM IMPIP van. Mitchel's parents said they would match everything that he was able to buy with his pocket money and Mitchel also had support from his friends at school. His younger sister was especially helpful in contributing. Thank you Mitchel for thinking of the less fortunate at Christmas and helping DRUG ARM to brighten the lives of some of our clients. Your donation is very special to us all, thank you! Volunteers The following link will take you to a blog site that is written by a dedicated DRUG ARM SOS volunteer from the Northern Beaches region in Sydney. Volunteering has many highs and lows, and a first hand account such as this explains why individuals volunteer with DRUG ARM and why young people often need all the help and support they can get in this challenging and ever-changing world. A fantastic site that we recommend you share with family and friends. Pickled Eel Movie day helps create a long-lasting smile The following email was received on 28 August 2006 after the recent Movie Days held on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 August at the Eldorado Cinema in Indooroopilly, Brisbane: "Thank you for the tickets for the movie - "Garfield 2". I attended with my children and husband yesterday. My son Ben was able to acquire these thru his school - Mt Gravatt West Special School. We all had a wonderful time and would like to thank you for supplying the tickets. We have gone to these movie sessions for some years - and we look forward to it every year." Kindest regards, Leslee Fleming DRUG ARM would like to extend a thank you to the Rotary Club of Toowong Brisbane West and all the local businesses who sponsored tickets and made this special event possible. Tickets are sponsored through tele-fundraising and over 42,500 people attend a variety of telemarketing events each year. Boeing - an important link in DRUG ARM’s chain Boeing has been an ongoing supporter of DRUG ARM for many years and this article is just one of the many things Boeing staff do to help us out. It is written by an exchange student, Frederique-Ann Baert who spent five months working with DRUG ARM this year. Read the story |
