By Rick Stoker

At last Wednesday’s AGM for the Port Douglas Community Services Network Inc, there was strong attendance and support by members as the 2014-15 annual report was presented and the Management Committee selected.

The annual report showed the main three areas of activities being the Neighbourhood Centre with its diverse community services, the Cubby House Childcare Centre and the Nic Nak Recycling Shed.  The latter raises funds to help keep the Centre open. 

The guest speaker for this year was the Deputy Mayor Abigail Noli. She gave three real-life examples of people she met while travelling, wherein the services which are freely available by our Neighbourhood Centre (maybe just someone to talk to for a few minutes), could have turned lives around and perhaps even saved lives.

In his report, the president Ray Legg acknowledged the dedicated work of the committee and staff. He welcomed the new manager Siobhan Delgado and new staff members Nichole Carnaby and Julia Ramponi.

Nichole is the Child and Parent support worker (CAPS) & Julia is the family counsellor; both are funded via Federal Dept of Social Services (DSS).  Nicole will be supporting playgroups Monday or Tuesday for children up to 5 years of age and Thursday for new mums alongside our volunteer Marg Legg. Julia is available for free counselling all day Thursdays.

Mr Legg mentioned the temporary suspension of the Cubby House, due to the low number of children at this time.

If parents wish to express their interest in registering for Cubby they can contact the centre directly in order to arrange staff in preparation to re-open fresh in January 2016.

Manager Siobhan Delgado advised that the Centre will review the use of this space for a family support program, if they do not have the numbers they need to keep the doors of Cubby open which is 21 children per day.

“We’d be keen to hear the views of the community regarding this but perceive there is a need for after school care, vacation care & youth programs alongside our current playgroups and family support work,” said Ms Delgado.

New short and long term plans for the Centre in terms of new programs and existing programs will included initiatives for youth and men.  The Centre has identified some gaps in services for youth and men especially and as such are looking into funding for youth initiatives and men’s support programs.

The improvement in this year’s financial report can be attributed to being “more economically savvy”.

“We have endeavoured to cut costs were possible with electricity, telephones, by double sided printing, less colour printing, reusing, recycling and revamping materials for the group.  There has been more interest in the Nic NAC Shed and well managed as a charity store,” said Ms Delgado.

The Centre was a recent recipient of the the OLGR Community Benefit Fund grant in August.

“This grant enabled us to replace all our air-cons so we can be even more economical with our electricity costs. We would like to acknowledge the hard work of the lads from Alpha Cool for completing the installation in such a timely manner, they were so professional and so neat. We are very happy with new air cons coming into the hot season. It’ll be a very comfortable building for everyone to visit this wet season,” said Ms Delgado.

Mr Legg acknowledged the support received from our community, including support from the Bendigo Bank, which enables the Centre to continue providing its invaluable services.

New Committee:
President:Mr Ray Legg
Secretary: Shona Barber
Treasurer: Helen DeRoss

Ordinary Members:
Julia Leu
Sheila Pitmann
Annie Richardson
Kim Smith 

Contact the manager Siobhan Delgado at manager@pdnc.org.au or the Committee at committee@pdnc.org.au or call 4099 5518 for any feedback regarding the Cubby House