Staff Matters February 28, 2020 Issue 246 Week 35
CARING ABOUT OUR STAFF LEADERSHIP AT THE COOGEE CONFERENCE Leadership: Delegate and Follow Up – Achieving Quality Outcomes was the key message at the biannual Management Conference for Afford leaders from QLD, NSW and VIC, held in beautiful Coogee NSW. Teams made their way to the beachside town of Coogee in the Eastern Suburbs, to take part in an inspiring and motivating two day conference! The Eastern Suburbs location was the perfect introduction to our exciting expansion of services into the area, soon to be launched. We will be filling the gaps in our geographical map to link up our services in areas not yet covered, with our expansion into the Eastern Suburbs. The conference was opened by CEO, Steven Herald, with an inspiring presentation driving Leadership – Ownership & Delegation. The Executive Team Allan Sio, Christina Emmanouel, Joy Kumar, Gordon Griff, Kym Mafi and Amira Salama all outlined critical information across the organisation.
In This Issue 1
Leadership at the Coogee Conference Joke Of The Week Afford Trivia
2
Afford Staff Giving Hope to Children In Samoa! Staff Profile
3
Leadership at the Coogee Conference Cont. REMINDER - Sibling Camp
4
Bushfire Appeal Update Handyman Timetable Selfies of the Week Upcoming Events Afford Trivia Answer
A highlight of the conference was the team-building activity held on Coogee Beach. Afford teams excitedly set off on a sandcastle challenge, to build the biggest and best Afford sandcastle! It was an amazing sight to see Affordians scattered all over the beach building huge sandcastles and branding them with our iconic Afford logo. We had a variety of creative results with Afford mermaids, an Afford boat and a representation of our states and departments! There could only be one winner, with the South West team took home the first prize medals for the challenge with their winning Afford boat creation. After a fantastic day of networking and team bonding, everyone got to spend some time enjoying a great meal at Sugarcane, with an array of exquisite seafood cuisine. Continued Pg. 3
AFFORD TRIVIA
What was the theme of last year’s Annual Gala Ball?
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Staff Matters
STAFF PROFILE NAME: Katie Champion POSITION: Lifestyle Assistant LOCATION: Chipping Norton Day Program NSW FAVOURITE MUSIC/SONG? Time of my life. FAVOURITE MOVIE? Dirty Dancing. FAVOURITE HOBBIES? Shopping. FAVOURITE FOODS? Mexican. IF YOU COULD BE AN ANIMAL, WHAT WOULD YOU BE? Koala. WHAT IS YOUR DREAM HOLIDAY DESTINATION? America. IF YOU HAD THE POWER, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT THE WORLD? More kindness in the world. IF YOU HAD TO TEACH SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD YOU TEACH? Cooking. SOMETHING NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT ME? That I competed in the world championship in street luge.
February 28, 2020 Issue 246
AFFORD STAFF GIVING HOPE TO CHILDREN IN SAMOA!
Recently Lifestyle Assistants, Sarah Amituanai and Patrick Piliae from Windsor and Cherrywood Day Program visited the House of Hope Orphanage in Samoa, to visit the local children and donated their time and items from our Afford swag. Affordian’s by nature are giving and caring people. It is heartwarming to see our staff sharing this kindness outside of Australia, by supporting the Samoa Victim Support Group – House of Hope Orphanage. Giving back to the community is something we are passionate about at Afford. We care not only about delivering exception services and supports for people with disability, but also about those who are less fortunate. Our compassion for giving back shines through a lot in our DES programs where our teams are continually advocating for their local refugee communities and holding local networking events. These sort of events and acts of kindness are part of a bigger picture in spreading the word about our focus on giving back to the community and creating strong networks. Both Sarah and Patrick have worked for Afford for over 2.5 years combined and met in the company through a mutual friend. Sarah has been visiting the orphanage for the past 6 years as a way to give back, and when she met Patrick he was ecstatic to join in, and they went on their first visit to the orphanage. Sarah finds great joy in visiting the young children who live here and helping out with any duties at the orphanage. There are over 40 children at the House of Hope ranging from newborn to 18 years old. They are victims of physical and sexual abuse, and many have varying disabilities. “We talked, danced and sang with the children for a couple of hours. They were very excited to perform for us and loved seeing us again” said Sarah. It was amazing to see the children wearing our colourful hats, which will help protect them from the tropical Samoan sun. The hats were very popular, and the children were excited to show them off in their group selfie. Sarah and Patrick will be visiting the House of Hope in Samoa again this year in September, if you wish to donate any items, please contact: Sarah Amituanai 0406775064 Sarah.amituanai@hotmail.com
www.afford.com.au
February 28, 2020 Issue 246
Staff Matters LEADERSHIP AT THE COOGEE CONFERENCE CONT. The second day delivered an incredibly inspiring presentation from guest speaker Kamal Sarma, discussing how to live in the moment and reduce stress in our everyday lives and at work. The feedback from staff on Kamal’s presentation has been overwhelmingly positive, and requests have come in to hear more from the monk trained guru on, ‘The Power of Clarity – How to develop the focus of a warrior and the peace of a monk’.
P EM
OF
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Our Allied Health team spoke about the amazing initiatives they have been delivering, represented by VIC Allied Health Team Leader, Julian Vilsten, NSW Speech Pathologist, Linda Redpath and QLD Allied Health Team Leader, Nicole Liedke. Attendees were wowed to learn about the new state-of-art sensory wall the Allied Health teams created at our new Miami Day program in QLD. Toni Preston also delivered a presentation on our success with Grants and creating urgency with them, followed by a refreshing presentation on the new Club Afford and Afford Getaways logo and our approach with these services and what to expect in 2020 by Jessica Scicluna. These conferences are critical to the Afford Way keeping our staff updated, connected and involved with what is happening within our organisation. They also provide a forum to network and brainstorm new and exciting ideas for our businesses. They are also a fantastic way to get to know our interstate teams and create stronger connections within our organisation.
REMINDER - SIBLING CAMP COMING SOON! ATTENTION Affordians have you heard that a camp for Afford Siblings is coming soon? Afford is working on an exciting new event concept for the siblings of our valued clients. As you know, the siblings and families of our clients are extremely important and we want to recognise the role siblings play in creating a strong and caring support network. Often siblings assist in the care of a child with disability, and being appreciated can add to a sibling’s sense of self-worth. Afford’s concept is to create an exclusive siblings event where the brothers and sisters of our clients come together to: • Share experiences with other siblings • Recognise the important role they play within their family • Learn they are not alone • Encourage them to create an Afford social network to whom they can turn for support ** If you would like to register your interest for your site, please email jessica.scicluna@afford.com.au with the following details: site name, client name, number of siblings to participate and ages of siblings. **
www.afford.com.au
February 28, 2020 Issue 246
Staff Matters BUSHFIRE APPEAL UPDATE
Since launching our Afford Bushfire Appeal, we have been absolutely blown away by the generosity and kindness of our staff! Supporting a number of charities to help fundraise for Australia during this crisis is so important, and we are very proud to see our teams and tribes culture shine through, as we band together to help out those in need. We are so proud to share that our current fundraising total is now A HUGE $4,128.00! The idea behind the Afford Bushfire Appeal was for staff to make a monetary donation from pre-tax earnings on your salary and for every dollar that employees donate, Afford will match it! Afford is still taking donations for all staff members that would like to make a monetary donation, from your pre-tax earnings on your salary, please follow these steps: • Email bushfireappeal@afford.com.au from your Afford email address • Include the amount you wish to donate and clearly name your preferred charity • Send the email – that’s it!!! Charities to choose from: • The Australian Red Cross
• Koala Park – Port Macquarie
• Rural Fire Services
• Symbio Wildlife
Affordians are known for our HUGE hearts, thank you very much for your kindness, acts of generosity and community spirit!
Handyman Timetable Meet Our Handyman Tahier
Our Handy Man, Tahier, will be at the following sites this week: - Monday 2nd March: Lakemba & Guildford - Tuesday 3rd March: South Windsor & Bligh Park x2 - Wednesday 4th March: Lurnea, Green Valley & Prestons ADE - Thursday 5th March: Jamisontown & Butterflies - Friday 6th March: Weekly catchup and attend to urgent requests
SELFIES OF THE WEEK
ssica Scicluna, Selfie Above: Je Cristina d an n, to Toni Pres anagement Alvarez at the M ogee NSW Conference in Co
Pawsome Se lfie Above: Druitt LSA NSW and he Shannon Bell, Mt r Frenchie Milo
UPCOMING EVENTS DATE:
EVENT:
8 March
International Women’s Day
17 March
St. Patrick’s Day
19 March
Strategic Planning Weekend
21 March
World Down Syndrome Day
Afford Trivia Answer: Under The Sea!
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