According to the Bureau of Meteorology summer rainfall was generally below average across most suburbs of Greater Melbourne. Both daytime and night-time temperatures were warmer than average.

Below average rainfall

Summer rainfall was below average at all sites in Greater Melbourne.
Rainfall totals ranged from 44% of average at Viewbank to 108% of average at Laverton RAAF.
Rainfall in December and February was less than average at most reporting sites, while in January rainfall was near-average to above average at most sites in Greater Melbourne.

In the April 2012 newsletter, there was an update on the Committee of Management membership with a few changes. Glenda Beale took over as Chair and it's interesting to note that a few of our current volunteers were on the Committee way back in 2012, namely Helen Littlejohn, Clare Doyle and Fran Jackson. Martin Foley MP was the Public Officer and has been a long-time supporter of SPDL.

10 years ago at SPDL

SPDL Committee of Management membership 2012

CHAIRPERSON Glenda Beale
DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON Clare Doyle
SECRETARY Lilian Lethborg
TREASURER Ross Garrett
PUBLIC OFFICER Martin Foley MP

MEMBERS Betty Harrison, Helen Littlejohn, Steve Roper, Joanne Lye, Meryll Hansen, Adam Saunders and Fran Jackson

Volunteer Update

SPDL celebrated National Volunteers Week with an afternoon tea on Tuesday 17th May. There was a good turnout with approximately 30 volunteers in attendance.

Guest speaker was Ana Music from Star Health. Ana’s role is based at the St Kilda Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub providing support for any Individuals needing support in the Bayside area.

SPDL also introduced our two new Volunteer & Client Intake Co-ordinators who are working on a job share arrangement.

Ivano Abram (Monday to Wednesday)
Maria Anes (Thursday to Friday)

Community Transport Week

On Monday the 28th March we celebrated 40 years of Community Transport in Victoria for which South Port Day Links has been a part of this journey most of the time.

The guest of honour for the day was SPDL founder Beris Campbell AOM who spoke passionately about the early days and getting SPDL established and some of the challenges that had to be met along the way. It was a good opportunity to reflect back on how far SPDL has become from those early days.

The agenda for the day was broken down into 4 decades and discussion centred around some of the key milestones for SPDL. Key speakers included Beris Campbell, Fran Jackson who is a former Committee of Management member and current volunteer driver, Rita Poole who has been a client since 2008 and Ray Babbage who has been a volunteer driver since 2015.

Key milestones

1988 to 1998

1992 First SPDL AGM held
1993 Launch of first community car

1999 to 2009

Change in DHHS HACC funding guidelines, capital funding for vehicles no longer available.
This meant new fundraising campaigns had to be developed.
Switch from petrol to LPG for the vehicles.
Telstra sponsored a DayLinks vehicle

2010 to 2020

2014 First Honda Odyssey purchased

2021 +

Fleet of 5 vehicles
Expansion of services into the City of Melbourne

Spotlight on a Client

JOSEPHINE SIMSA
This month we are putting the spotlight on a long-term client of SPDL Josephine Simsa.

A little bit about Josephine

Josephine was born is St Kilda and although she has worked in many places during her career, Josephine has always had a base in the City of Port Phillip.

Career

Josephine worked in the field of supporting refugees in emergency situations following wars or natural disasters, in South Asia and countries of Africa. Her work was mainly overseas, working for UK/ European organisations providing emergency relief and establishing programs of support while working in many refugee camps. Josephine fell into this line of work after completing a Masters of Sociology as a mature aged student. Josephine was responsible for managing multidisciplinary teams in what would have been challenging circumstances.

Hobbies

Josephine is a talented musician and is currently in 2 bands, one formed in 2004 that plays a broad base of world music and a 2nd band formed in 2017 that plays Jazz from the 1930s & 40s. Josephine plays the keyboards and the bands mainly play in aged care homes or for community groups.

Another passion for Josephine is to adopt old aged dogs. Her current dog Bam Bam is 14 years old and has been with Josephine for 3 years. All her dogs have been very grateful to have a home and are very happy. Bam Bam has a very bubbly personality and is more like a 2 year old, rather than an older dog. This is Josephine’s 4th dog under the save a dog scheme.

How did Josephine find SPDL?

Josephine found SPDL back in 2005 and post surgery was looking for assistance with dog walking. Josephine was aware of SPDL having used the community transport service. Josephine appreciates having SPDL services available through PetMates with regular dog walking that enables her to have a dog as a companion, enjoying the benefits of having a pet. There are currently 2 volunteers that walk Bam Bam and Josephine enjoys a strong friendship with both volunteers and Josephine is still friends with some of the past volunteers as well.

Trips to Flu or Covid 19 booster vaccination appts

Just a reminder if anyone needs transportation to an appointment for their Flu or COVID booster vaccination during the hours of 8:30 am to 4pm Monday to Friday, please contact us on 9646 6362, hopefully we can assist you to have a flu shot or vaccination.

Under the National Immunisation Program (NIP), flu vaccinations are free if you are aged 65 years

or older. For COVID, you need a booster to stay up to date with your vaccinations if you are 16 years and over.

We encourage all volunteers, staff, and clients to make sure you have both your vaccinations this winter season.

City of Melbourne

SPDL now able to provides transportation in the City of Melbourne for clients. This includes return trips to the Alfred Hospital.
To make a booking, please call us on 9646 6362 and remember to phone prior to 2pm the day before your trip so that we can accommodate your request.

Find us on Facebook

SPDL has a Facebook page where you can keep up to date on latest happenings and also make a comment on any news. If you wanted to post a message to friends or the people of the City of Port Phillip, send it through to us and we can post it on the SPDL Facebook page.
**https://bit.ly/3zblfp7**

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AUTUMN 2022