Area Coordinator 2016 Summary (and farewell)

Well what a year it has been. So much has changed around Marsden and many more exciting changes to come. We welcomed many new families to the area and we hope you enjoy our little suburb as much as we do. Unfortunately life is not always smooth sailing for some and we saw an increase in domestic violence. Some reductions in crime though are thanks to the vigilance of you all in reporting. While the police may not "turn up" straight away - your information could be what they need to solve a case, bring an offender to justice or give them enough information to "turn up" at a later time etc. 

We have again enjoyed the support of our elected representatives. I would like to on behalf of Marsden NHW Community thank Jim Chalmers MP - Member for Rankin, Cameron Dick and Jon Raven. Without the support from yourself and your extremely hard working teams we couldn’t provide the activities to the community so thank you. Also to Graham Able who was also a great supporter. If you are wondering, collectively since 2013 they have donated many man hours including some inspiring raffle ticket selling, about 30kg of sausages and 20 loaves of bread, transport, printing of ALL our flyers etc as well as their time to attend our events and give time to the community.

We must also thank Sgt Smyth from Crestmead Police Station who has provided great counsel and support since our re-establishment back in 2013. In addition the VIP’s at the Station and the teams at DCPO who have welcomed us into the fold and provided many resources and support to help us bring awareness to NHW.

Personally I need to thank a few people. Firstly Lynne who, not only lives in the next suburb, but has attended almost every event and shown her support for us and our activities. Thank you Lynne. Larry and Jill for their ongoing support and for helping out on Saturday and saving our bacon with the BBQ thank you again! And to the regulars who attend our meetings and provide input thank you. Also to the past and current committee members thank you for giving to the community. My biggest thanks tho must go to our amazing Secretary Christine! She has been my counsel also and a sounding board for ideas, frustrations and late night questions and a lot of laughs along the way. Without her we could not have done what we do and I’m so grateful to have shared this experience with her and to call her my friend.

To my family, who have had to navigate around NHW containers around the house, help set up at events and on occasion help run them - THANK YOU. Your support during this is appreciated and I promise the boxes will be gone soon 

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Thank you also to Logan City Council, Crime Stoppers in Queensland, Keely Larson, Crestmead Neighbourhood Watch – and Wendy for her support, advice and guidance, the team at Marsden Park Shopping Centre, McDonald's Marsden, Bendigo Bank Marsden and Brisbane Character Hire Kids Parties our sponsors and donators. Apologies if I have missed anyone, its been a long year ;p

Finally on a personal note, and the reason for my long waffle. It is time for my family and I to have a sea change of sorts. We have lived in Marsden for 10 years and have seen many changes over that time. While it is a sad time it is also immensely exciting time. I have loved being a part of NHW in Marsden and hopefully bringing a smile to a few faces along the way with the activities we have provided. Thank you for those I have met on this path and I hope to see you again soon.

As a result of this, I will formally resign from my position at our January community meeting. Due to the amount of work required, and after a discussion with QPS we will be calling for nominations for both an Area Coordinator and Assistant Coordinator to take up the positions in January 2017. It would also be great if more people could join and take on roles for Social Media and Events to ease the burden. 

You would need to be able to commit to the quarterly Executive and Community Meetings (about 2-3 hours each quarter), maintain and grow established and new support networks and resources, be good at talking to people, be tech savvy as this is the way of the future and have a strong community focus and values. For events, a guide is about a week of personal time for each event to pull it all together! While it may seem like a lot, for the right people it’s a walk in the park 

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If you are interested in a position on the committee please send an email to nhwmarsden@gmail.com with your details. You must be present at the community meeting to be eligible for nomination on the 16th January at 6:30 pm at McDonalds Marsden (see our events tab for more details or to RSVP. 

In the mean time, look after each other, stay vigilant, report something that’s not right and keep smiling.

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Mel – Outgoing Area Coordinator.