Archived News 2011

  2. Community Stall Day at Lansvale Public School

    Community Programs teamed up with Carer Recruitment to get the word about KARI out into the community. On Friday the 16th of September both teams attended The 50th Birthday Celebrations of Lansvale Public School. The day was a celebration of the school and its vast community and we were happy to attend to spread the word about all the great things currently happening at KARI. KARI's very own Duckman made a special appearance which was one of the many highlights of the day.

    Surfing Program September 2011

    During the first week of vacation care KARI ran a four day surfing program at Cronulla beach. Seven boys from our community were taught how to safely read the surf conditions as well as practice the skills needed to ride the waves by the excellent team at Cronulla Surfing Academy. The program was a huge success with many of the participants leaving with a few special gifts from the Cronulla Surfing Academy team and huge smiles on their faces.

    Mothers and Children's Camp 2011

    The KARI Mothers and Children's Camp was held at Vision Valley Conference Centre from Friday the 7th of October until Sunday the 9th of October. We had 9 families in attendance to take part in the 3 day camp, partnered with South West Sydney Area Health representatives Charlie Griffin and Patricia Glossop. The mums enjoyed some skill based workshops while the kids got a chance to mix among other kids, make friends and most importantly have fun! It was great to see these families getting to know each other, make lifelong friends and take something special home at the end of the three days. We would like to thank everyone involved in making the weekend a great success and we look forward to making it bigger and better in 2012!

    Vacation Care - September/October 2011 School Holidays

    During the school holidays Community Programs ran three days of activities for our Vacation Care period. On Tuesday the 4th of October we visited Sydney's much loved Taronga Zoo to take in the sights and sounds of our favourite wild and exotic creatures. The highlight of the day was cuddling up to a koala and getting up close and personal with a snake! Muru Mittigar Cultural Centre offered a great day of learning and culture on Wednesday the 5th of October. Boomerangs were thrown, dances were performed and many a friend was made. Finally, our most popular event was held at Event Cinema! The Smurfs proved to be a popular school holiday movie choice with full attendance and smiles galore, including on some of our staff! Vacation Care will pick up again in 2012 after the Christmas/New Years break.

    2011 Aboriginal Student Achievement Awards

    The 21st Annual Aboriginal Student Achievement Awards were held on Wednesday the 9th of November at the University of Western Sydney, Campbelltown Campus. The night celebrated the many varied achievements of Aboriginal students across the South West Sydney region and was a highly successful night organised by Department of Education and Communities South West Sydney Region and Mil-Pra AECG. A special congratulations goes to the twelve recipients of the KARI Award for 2011 in particular the following students who were a part of our Scholarship program for 2011; Keifer Dotti, Corey Makelim, Ben Smith, Brandon Brown, Jade Holdsworth and Kataya Barrett. We wish these students the best of luck in their future endeavours!

    Scholarship Applications 2012

    Scholarship Applications for the 2012 program have been distributed through the South West Sydney Schools network. Applications are open to students entering years 11 and 12 in 2012 and close on Friday the 2nd of December 2011. Contact the Community Programs team for more information.

    Vacation Care April 2011

    Vacation Care ran again for two (2) weeks in the April school holidays. Participants enjoyed a jam packed program with activities including Indigenous Art Class, Footy Skills Clinics, Indigenous Cooking Classes and much, much more.

    Aboriginal Children, Youth and Family Strategy (ACY&FS) - Father and Sons Camp 2011

    The Fathers and Sons' Camp was a great success this year with over 16 participants. The most popular activities we had on the camp were Didgeridoo painting with everyone able to keep their Didgeridoos, also the Wacky Olympics which was a great team building activity with all the fathers and sons having a good laugh that culminated in a tug-o-war which was actually won by the sons!

    The Animal Exhibit was really popular with animals ranging from a crocodile to a possum with its baby and many more. The Aboriginal Exhibit with dances and traditional songs and didgeridoo playing was great with everyone joining in. The Raft Building was quite challenging and funny at the same time with the fathers and sons assembling their rafts and trying to make it across the lake without success until they joined the rafts together and made it across. I think we all put on a few kilos from all the food that was on the camp! Overall the camp was a great experience and enjoyed by all.

    KARI Gala Dinner Dance 2011

    More info on this event is available directly from the events page.

    Racing to the Top

    The latest Racing to the Top program is currently underway at James Busby High School.

    Vacation Care April 2011

    Vacation Care ran again for two (2) weeks in the April school holidays. Participants enjoyed a jam packed program with activities including Indigenous Art Class, Footy Skills Clinics, Indigenous Cooking Classes and much, much more.

    NSW Rugby League Clinics

    NSW Rugby League are currently facilitating two (2) clinics out at Campbelltown Performing Arts High school. The first was a Coaching Clinic in May 2011 with the participants receiving certified training to coach their own Rugby League team. The second which will be held in June 2011 will be a certified refereeing clinic with graduating participants able to undertake paid refereeing opportunities at Rugby League games.

    Vacation Care July 2011

    Vacation care will running again in the second week of the July School Holidays. KARI will be running four jam packed days on the following dates:

    • Monday 11th of July - Rock Climbing at Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym, Villawood. [Ages 8 - 18]
    • Tuesday 12th of July - Ten Pin Bowling at AMF Villawood. [Ages 5-18]
    • Wednesday the 13th of July - Ceramic Art at Tennyson Studios, Gladesville. [Ages 5-18]
    • Friday the 15th of July - IMAX cinemas viewing Transformers 3, Darling Harbour. [Ages 8-18] *Note: Due to the mildly violent nature of scenes in Transformers 3, children under the age of 8 will be considered for participation in the activity ONLY if parents are confident there will be no repercussions from their child viewing this film. KARI accepts no liability in the affects caused from viewing the film.

    July Surfing Program

    KARI will be running two (2) surfing programs in the July School Holidays. Both programs will run for 4 days over the course of 2 weeks at Cronulla Beach. We will be taking 12 participants per program, registrations will open soon. WATCH THIS SPACE!

    Staff Celebrate Training Success

    On the 25th February 2011 six staff from KARI's Out of Home Care Program celebrated their successful completion of the Diploma in Community Welfare Work. The Diploma was delivered on site at KARI over an eighteen month period and was facilitated in partnership with the BCA National Training Group. Bruce Callaghan & Associates (BCA) is a successful management consultancy with 20 years experience that specialises in strategic/business planning, managed change, board recruitment, executive coaching and also training programs.

    The program was embraced by all participants who previously had an abundance of life skills and other qualifications but who were looking for the opportunity to further increase their skill base. KARI has a firm commitment to the ongoing training and development of all staff members. Having achieved success with the pilot program KARI has further invested in an additional six staff members by partnering with BCA to deliver the Diploma throughout 2011.

    Vacation Care December 2010 - January 2011

    The extremely popular KARI Vacation care program has recently wound up for another holiday period. Vacation Care had another successful run over the post Christmas and New Year break introducing some new and exciting day trips that proved to be popular among our participants. Activities included Archery at Sydney Olympic Park, 2 trips to the Australian Museum where the children got the chance to take in their cultural heritage at the interactive Indigenous Australians exhibit and proving to be the most popular visit among the participants by far was the day trip to The Australian Reptile Park. Other activities that were offered included movie tickets and Tick Toks passes.

    Manly Girls Surfing Program - January 18th to 21st 2011

    The Manly Girls Surfing Program ran from Tuesday the 18th of January to Friday the 21st of January 2011 at Long Reef Beach, Manly.

    The program was run in conjunction with The Layne Beachley Aim for the Stars Foundation, Manly Surf School, Long Reef SLSC, Manly Sea Eagles, The NRL Indigenous All Stars and The Hardboard Diggers Club.

    KARI Aboriginal Resources Incorporated took 9 girls from the local Liverpool Community to Long Reef Beach to take part in a four day surfing program.

    Over the course of the four days the girls learnt the fundamental skills of surfing as well as learning how to correctly identify the key areas of surf safety to ensure that they understood how to independently read the surf conditions before going out.

    Manly Surf School provided all the equipment including wetsuits, rash shirts and surf boards and gave a very comprehensive and easy to understand lesson on surf safety doing their best to ensure that each of the participants was safe 100% of the time.

    On the fourth and final day of the program surfing champion Layne Beachley came out to meet the girls and give them some tips on surfing. Layne was very active in her visit, being in the water for the better part of the lesson with the girls, laughing and playing. The girls had beaming smiles on the faces and were all excited and thrilled to meet her.

    The final day of the program was definitely the highlight for all of the girls who also received t-shirts, caps and other gifts from Layne and her team from The Aim for the Stars Foundation.

    KARI Aboriginal Resources Incorporated would like to thank everyone that was involved in making the four days an enjoyable and memorable experience for all.

    More images from the event are available in the gallery.

    Presentation of Brighter Futures and EIPP
    (Early Intervention and Placement Prevention Program) Funding 24 February 2011

    KARI Aboriginal Resources Incorporated is expanding their support for the Community. KARI was granted $539 000 by the Department of Community Services to support the local community with the Brighter Futures program and Early Intervention and Placement Prevention program (EIPP). Minister Linda Burney joined Minister Paul Lynch to congratulate KARI on being selected to deliver the 2 programs. This funding will assist KARI to work with vulnerable families and other disadvantaged groups in the Liverpool area.


    Left to right: Mr Paul Ralph - KARI CEO, Minister Linda Burney, Gary Potts, KARI Chairperson and Minister Paul Lynch. This special launch echoed in new funding that KARI had received to deliver Brighter Futures and Early Intervention program services for the Aboriginal community residing within Liverpool.

    KARI will now be able to work with Aboriginal families that they haven't been able to reach in the past

    Brighter Futures program provides targeted support to vulnerable families to prevent them from entering or escalating into the child protection system.

    Brighter Futures is designed for families who have children aged eight years or younger or are expecting a child and who face specific problems. Priority of access is given to families with children less than three years of age.

    Ms Burney said "Brighter Futures program provides assistance to families who are experiencing issues which prevents them spiralling out of control and impacting on the safety and wellbeing of their children".

    More images from the event are available in the gallery.

    KARI Mothers & Children's Camp

    The latest instalment of the KARI Mothers and Children's Camp was held during the month of November. This program offered the opportunity for 8 parents and 12 children to stay for 2 nights at the picturesque Mowbray Park Farm stay facility in Picton NSW. Coordinated by the professional team at Koori Communications and Training, participants were treated to a weekend of fun activities and informative workshops. Participants were also given the opportunity to form meaningful support friendships and relationships which will assist them throughout their future life. Once again this program was extremely successful with a good time had by all.

    Banton Brothers/KARI Musical Development Initiative

    In partnership with Banton Brothers Entertainment, KARI recently concluded a musical production initiative at Lawrence Hargrave School in Liverpool. This program offered the lucky participants the opportunity to prepare a peice of music which highlighted their lifestory and their experiences. The participants were given the opportunity to work with a professional lyricist to prepare the peice. They were then assisted in putting their song to a peice of music of their chossing. The final product was then marketed through musical websites, with all royalties going to the participant.

    KARI School Scholarship Program

    Applications have now opened for the 2011 KARI School Scholarship Program. This year scholarships are available in three categories including, academic, sporting and vocational. These scholarships provide the lucky recipients with up to $1,000 to purchase school-related items. The primary aim of this great initiative is to improve school retention rates and increase the numbers of Aboriginal young people that complete their Higher School Certificate within the Liverpool and Fairfield areas. If you or someone you know is interested receiving financial assistance to complete years 11 and 12 in 2011, then please contact Harry or Lauren in our Community Programs Team on 02 8782 0300.

    Vacation Care

    The highly popular KARI Vacation Care Program is being conducted once again during the December school holidays. This program is extremely well attended with demand for places extremely high. With a range of program opportunities on offer we are expecting some great outcomes from this initiative. Programs that will be offered during this school holiday break include: 2 x Greenroom Grommets Surfing Program, Movie Tickets as well as various cultural programs and day tours.