A busy couple of weeks! The Philanthropy team met with volunteer groups in Taranaki, Cambridge, Hamilton, Auckland, and Whangarei to discuss future volunteer strategies in their respective regions.
First, the team travelled to New Plymouth to visit Arthritis Together Taranaki, a group of predominantly working age individuals with arthritis. We talked about how we could promote and grow their group organically in the community, and the role they see themselves playing at a local level.
Next up was the Stratford Arthritis Support Group. They have been running for 25 years, discussing topics as diverse as sheep breeds and the Chatham Islands in their monthly meetings! They also had an excellent presentation on the day from Robyn, one of our Arthritis Educators. We will be working with the group to see what we can achieve in Stratford in 2019.
Contact Hamilton celebrated 40 years as a support group at their Christmas lunch. A fantastic meal organised by Pennie, Rona, and the rest of the committee. Their guests of honour; three ladies who were there at the group’s inception! Well done indeed.
In Cambridge, Peggy Farr laid on a wonderful afternoon tea at which we were able to discuss the future direction of the support group with their committee. It was great to hear about some of the local issues that affect them, issues that are doubtless reflected in groups across the country.
The team also met with volunteers in Auckland who, like us, want a bigger footprint in the community. They had some creative ideas about how we could reach out to adults with arthritis who have busy working lives and cannot always commit to a regular meeting.
Finally, to Whangarei, one of the larger and more active groups in our network. It was no surprise that they had a lot of questions for our CE, Philip Kearney. They also managed to persuade us to participate in their fashion show – let’s pray those photographs don’t ever see the light of day! We were really impressed by what they were achieving in their region, particularly delivering leaflets/Joint Support to GP surgeries.
We hope everyone going to a Christmas lunch this month has a fantastic time.Â
View the gallery of photos taken at the 40th anniversary of the Contact Hamilton support group:
This is great to see