Good Cents Course

Lessons from a 101 year old client

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:52:00 -0500

The grip was tight; very tight and the handshake went on to the extent that I was rather relieved when it ended. I was more than a little surprised that this was the handshake of a 101 year old man, and judging by the cheeky smile on Joe Clarke’s face, he is as proud of his strength, as he is of his age.

Claire O’Connor, a Community Worker with WCA has been visiting Joe since 2006, about the same time as WCA Volunteer visitor, Corey Millikin also started visiting Joe. The two workers speak very highly of their client who maintains a home that is extremely neat and tidy and which belies his age, limited vision and restricted mobility.

Joe is fiercely independent, and is justifiably proud of his fitness, proud of his neat and tidy home and proud that he still prepares his meals himself. No meals-on-wheels for him. Joe’s walking frame assists his mobility around the home and also doubles as an unconventional exercise tool as he proudly lifts it well above his shoulders in an exercise ritual akin to press-ups.

Joe was born in Nottingham in June 1910, and was brought to NZ in 1913 when his father found work in the NZ Coal Mining industry. Despite then being only 3 years old, Joe claims to have good recall of both the voyage and his arrival in NZ. The family first set up home in Denniston, a small coal mining town high on the hill above Westport which is immortalized in the book ‘Denniston Rose’ by Jenny Pattrick.

Joe did very well at school, and proudly recalls that he always got to sit nearest the school’s fireplace as this was the much appreciated prize for correct answers. “If I ever got an answer wrong, the teachers would check their facts and find that more often than not that they were wrong and I was correct,” he recalls. Joe was very adept at mental arithmetic and this skill is still apparent as he recalls dates and events with startling clarity.

Referring to his mental arithmetic skills, Joe proudly claims, “I was the first computer.” On many occasions Joe’s teachers delegated the teaching of arithmentic to Joe and his patently superior skills.

When the family shifted to Wellington, Joe began his first job weaving cane to make baskets, cane furniture and the then fashionable cane prams. Joe recalls that his nimble fingered speed turned what was a relatively small ‘piece rate’ of two and a half pence per basket into a then respectable income of over twelve shillings per week. By the time he was 15 years old Joe was supervising 12 boys working under him.

In 1931 he married ‘the love of his life,’ Elizabeth Anne (Annie) and subsequently had 3 children, two sons and a daughter. His remaining daughter currently resides in Australia aged 79. His wife died in November 1990 after developing Alzheimers some years earlier. Joe was 80 years old at the time and found it very difficult battling to get adequate support for his wife during her long illness. Joe’s sister is aged 97 and lives nearby. Over the years, Claire has arranged many visits between them.

During World War Two Joe was a guard at the Japanese Prisoner of War Camp at Featherston which housed over 800 Japanese prisoners, and which gained considerable notoriety when on 25 Feb 1943, forty-eight prisoners were shot and seventy-four wounded following an alleged riot. Joe claims to have been absent on the day of the riot, and has more benign memories of the prisoners: “we used to trade them cigarettes, they were harmless, and many didn’t want to go home.”

When I visited Joe, he was busy watching an old black and white movie on SKY TCM Channel. His Wesley volunteer visitor Corey Milliken reports, “Joe can recite the dialogue and story line to almost every single old movie screened by Sky.”

Corey confirms the secret to Joe’s hidden strength: “He could have been a gym instructor with a regular routine of squats, press-ups, and rotations. The only thing that seems to have slowed him down is hitting triple figures on reaching 100 years.”

Claire also confirms that the stress of reaching 100 years saw Joe admitted to hospital for a rare visit. “Perhaps the idea of reaching 100 years old became too much for him,” notes Claire, “he had been counting down the days and minutes to his 100th birthday for the previous twelve months! Our small but strong group of friends, family and supporters found itself celebrating Joe’s 100th birthday with him at Hutt Hospital, where staff had kindly arranged for us to transform the medical ward into a birthday venue – complete with oxygen tank for Joe! We found ways of concealing the tank in most of the birthday photos! Joe returned home soon after his birthday and quickly picked up right where he left off, running his household with renewed purpose and humbling efficiency.”

Joe himself laughs at any impediments saying, “I’ve got so many handicaps, I’m like on of those horses at the races, I’m one lap behind, but I still come first.”

Joe’s next goal is to reach 102, and with his mental arithmetic skills, he can quickly calculate how many days there are to this next milestone.

March 2012 WCA News

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:49:00 -0500

2010/11 WCA Annual Report

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:07:00 -0600

Latest WCA News

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:25:00 -0600

Going the Extra Mile

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:19:00 -0500

With no relatives of her client living in Wellington, Anne arranged for BNZ staff who each year donate two days of their time to worthy community causes, to assist with packing up her client’s home of the last 13 years. On the chosen day two WCA staff, two of Anne’s family members and four BNZ staff helped to pack and store her client’s lifetime of accumulated treasures.

The move was made easier by another of Anne’s initiatives; she had also approached NZ Movers of Wingate who kindly donated a large quantity of storage cartons and sticky tape to help pack her clients home safely.

Another contact of Anne’s kindly offered to store her client’s possessions in her garage until such time as he was well enough to remove them.

Anne’s client is now in Wesleyhaven Village’s Deckston Rest Home where he is recovering in a safe and caring environment. He fully intends to return to more independent living when he heals and has his eyes on one of Wesleyhaven’s nearby rental villa’s.

Anne works with Wesley Community Action providing in-home support for older clients who wish to retain their independence while living in their own home. Her client is an 81 year old man who retains a pride in living independently, yet also requires the maximum level of home support in order to allow him to do this.

Over the year and a half Anne has been visiting her client at least once a week, while further visits from Wesley’s Team of volunteers provides assistance in getting her client to hospital and doctors appointments. Another team of careers visit him up to 21 hours per week, providing additional assistance with cleaning and meals.

“When I first started seeing him, his immediate concerns were around the payment of his bills, so we set up a series of Direct Debits and Auto Payments to manage his finances,” recalls Anne.

More recently her work has involved finding alternative accommodation for her client and liaising with health practitioners to help restore her client to good health.

As Anne says; “Going the extra mile is just part of the job”

Recent experiences of a Wesley Foster 'Parent'

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:37:00 -0500

For B, a young teenager for whom Jono provides foster care, the positive changes have been equally important. Once a habitual truant from school, with a record as a ‘runner’ for his habit of running away from previous foster care placements, B is now regularly attending school, achieving good grades and has no thoughts of ‘doing a runner.’

The changes noted in B and Jono’s passion for his role, are no accidents. Both have benefitted from the many years experience of WCA’s seasoned Foster Care support team and its Strength Based ethos.

Jono’s introduction into Wesley’s foster care team was gradual. After an 18 year career in the printing industry, Jono had been made redundant and used the opportunity to reassess his career and look for some more meaningful work. Jono recalls, “being made redundant was a big wake-up call for me, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do.... my long friendship with another Social Worker, had introduced me to Social Work... and when I saw an advertisement for Wesley Community Action seeking Foster Parents, it was like a beacon to me.”

One of the hardest parts in his transition to Foster Care was Jono’s second interview with Wesley Community Action. “I found it quite intimidating being interviewed by two people,” recalls Jono. Fortunately, Jono coped well enough with the unfamiliar interview process, and his abilities impressed the Wesley team. Soon after the interview Jono was offered a part-time role as a ‘respite caregiver,’ filling in and helping out when other Wesley foster parents needed a break. “It was a good introduction,” recalls Jono, “I was able to feel my way gradually into the work.”

During the 2010/11 Christmas holiday period, Jono was asked to take a step further and manage a ‘holiday programme.’ “It was great, I took the boys on lots of walks, we did wood carving, pumice carving, swimming, craftwork, rock climbing, and played lots of basketball,” recalls Jono. During both the holiday programme and the respite care process, Jono was introduced to ‘B’ and found he got on well with him, and by the time the Wesley team approached Jono to take B on as a full time Foster Parent , the two had already established a good relationship that ‘worked’ for them both. “It was a smooth transition, it was great,” recalls Jono.

Jono noticed that B was very interested in his Maori heritage and introduced him to the kapa haka roopu of Nga Karere. B also learned skills relating to mau rakau - taiiaha (spear). They both now regularly attend lessons in these skills and at one stage the pair completed a 5 day taiaha course under the Tikanga of Te Arawa (Rotorua), living under canvas on Rotorua’s Mokoia Island where B thrived in the dawn to dusk regime and learned a lot about his heritage.

B’s transition took a further boost when he came second in the special needs category of the Wellington Regional schools competition. This placing won him selection to join the North Island championships held in Hamilton where he achieved a creditable 3rd placing. Both Jono and B were overwhelmed by the success, and it was an even more memorable achievement when one considers that as late as an hour before the event B had to train with a stick as he lacked a proper javelin to practice with. It was only after another athlete helped out by loaning him a proper javelin to practice that B was able to snatch 10 minutes of vital practice.

In more recent times, B is learning Kapa Haka skills and is often seen practising the routines outside in the evenings. Notes Jono, “It’s great to see him so motivated, I don’t have to push him, he just gets out there and practices.”

Jono adds, “B is very competitive, whether we are indoors playing cards, or outside playing basketball, touch rugby etc.” Perhaps it is the competitive traits in both B and Jono that the Wesley staff noted when they suggested they work together, as Jono is also very competitive and takes a healthy interest in Martial Arts, triathalons, cycling, running and swimming.

Jono has an affinitiy for a young person struggling to come to terms with the cards that life has dealt him as Jono has encountered similar difficulties in his own upbringing where bullying in turn effected his schooling. “I found school very tough,” he recalls, “I didn’t cope.” When the Maori Affairs Department offered Jono the opportunity to leave his small community of Ohakune and travel to Wellington for employment, he leapt at the opportunity. Over the succeeding years, employment opportunities came and went, a marriage came and went, and a lovely daughter came and went and now lives in Melbourne. Jono says with pride “I’m very close to my daughter and relish any opportunity to spend time with my mokopuna (grandchild.)

Jono has experienced much in his life and his ability to learn from it and to grow are talents that he can now pass on to the young people he works with. Jono’s Team Leader at Wesley Community Action, Sarah Packman says, “what I see as a major strength in Jono, is his refusal to be swayed by the negative labels that sometimes come with the young people we work with. Instead he has a strong belief in the young person’s abilities and that in turn helps to nurture these strengths.”

Good Cents Porirua - Business Plan released

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 19:17:00 -0500

The Porirua Good Cents Initiative emerged from local conversations at the height of the economic boom in 2007. Members of the Wesley Community Action Board were surprised that despite economic growth and high employment rates, demand for the Wesley Porirua foodbank remained high.

Close relationships with families utilising WCA’s foodbank revealed that many of these families were trapped in a cycle debt that was rapidly reducing their financial wellbeing. Conversations with these families revealed the huge impact this financial stress was having on the individuals concerned, their families and the community as a whole.

Good Cents emerged as a locally grown response to this concern about debt and has sort to grow into a community owned initiative that is focussed on transforming systems and structures in our community that create unsustainable debt. Good Cents is about working collaboratively, across the whole community to identify how together each of our contributions can make a difference.

Good Cents Porirua is working to increase the financial stability of individuals, families and our community to protect and grow wealth and well-being.

The Good Cents ‘Business Plan’, sets out who the core leadership team comprise of as well as the stakeholders and supportersof the initiative. It states our strategic goals which are supported by annual actions plans.

The Good Cents ‘Business Plan” is a living and evolving plan that sets our horizons at a better future but is prepared for the shape of those horizons to change and shift.

It provides us with a framework for further thinking and development of Good Cents and accountability to our supporters, funders and the community

To receive a PDF copy of the Good Cents ‘Business Plan’, click here.

Wesleyhaven Village - Latest News

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:09:00 -0500

The just released August to September 2011 Wesleyhaven News includes stories on; The Polar Plunge; A Garden Make over; The 'Reflections' book Launch; Age is no barrier; Training Graduation Results; Wesleyhaven Residents' Committee election results; Staff Happenings and much, much more.

To read an on-line version of Wesleyhaven Village's latest news, simply click here.

Reflections - The Wesleyhaven Way

Thu, 19 May 2011 16:58:00 -0500

Since Wesleyhaven Village first opened its doors some 50 years ago, over 7,000 people have lived there. Almost every day Wesleyhaven receives informal testimonials and praise from residents, families and staff. More formal recognition of Wesleyhaven’s unique attributes was provided in September 2009, when Wesleyhaven was honoured as winner of the ‘Telecom Community Connections Award’ and also joint winner of the ‘INsite Overall Excellence in Aged Care Award’ announced by Health Care Providers NZ.

What is so special about Wesleyhaven Village? Clearly it is more than its ‘bricks and mortar’; more than its pretty bush surroundings. What is so special? We hope that publication of the book; ‘Reflections - The Wesleyhaven Way’, will provide some of the answers as well as providing valuable insights into the ageing process.

Published as a 74 page ’Coffee Table’ style book, Reflections features a combination of history, stories , poems and photographs, and is available at $25.00 (with sale proceeds to benefit Wesleyhaven,) price includes postage and packaginf within NZ.

To order a copy of this book simply email us by clicking here

Choice not Chance

Sun, 01 May 2011 16:23:00 -0500

The 'Choice not Chance' camapign launch was attended by around 100 local residents, many of whom have had their lives impacted upon by Gambling.

A leading New Zealand hip hop rapper and recording artist Malo Luafutu, better known by his stage name Scribe, spoke and rapped about his addiction to gambling and the cost to him and his family.

Scribe recounted how he had been inadvertently switched on to gambling by his Nana taking him to housie at a very young age. “This addiction does not discriminate, our community already has it hard, many of us are on the ‘bene’....and gambling is often seen as our one chance to have KFC this week....and no one was there to educate me how bad this addiction (gambling) could be.”

In 2011, Scribe came clean on Campbell Live, describing how he became addicted to drugs, alcohol and gambling between 2005 and 2007.

Scribe recounted that his addiction to gambling had led to his family denying him access to money, to the point that he had to pawn off many of the platinum awards that he won from his debut album.

However, as Scribe pointed out, “as negative and messed up your life is, or becomes: you can still do some really awesome things. You have the power to change. It is your choice.”

The meeting was also addressed by Porirua City, Deputy Mayor, Liz Kelly, and the Hon Peter Dunne MP associate Minister of Health.

To find out more about this campaign click here.

Community Pantry Planned for Porirua

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:04:00 -0600

The Community Pantry sees food as not only an end in itself but also a means to achieving broader goals of empowerment and health. It will be a place where everyone can contribute to their community; where good food is made available; resources, skills and knowledge are shared; and people can gain a strong sense of pride and value in their part within the community.

The plan

The initial focus of the Pantry will be to work with current food bank clients who will be invited to volunteer their time to establish and maintain a garden and small orchard which in turn will supplement the food bank and provide nutritional fresh produce to all those who require this service. The vision for the Community Pantry is that the services we provide will grow from this initial garden and allow us to achieve our vision of a busy and productive centre for people giving people the skills and resources they need to get enough good food.

Our first steps will be to start a big veggie garden and plant a fruit trees at our site in Cannons Creek. Once we have some good food growing we will be run classes on things like cooking, and gardening. Porirua City Council is helping us make a plan to dig up our grass and plant veggies and trees but we welcome help from others

The Cannons Creek Community Pantry will be a place where we can all be a part of making better food available in Cannons Creek. It will be a place where good food, ideas and skills are grown and shared. We’re really excited about this project and want your help to get it off the ground.

How can you get involved?

Your organisation can play a really important role in improving the state of food availability in Porirua. Your involvement and help in the Community Pantry would be an outstanding way to demonstrate your commitment to the community.

What we need:

Seeds and seedlings
Gardening equipment
Expertise on growing food, cooking food, and eating healthily
Volunteers’ time

Get in touch

Kena Duignan
Community Pantry Coordinator

Wesley Community Action
Mungavin Ave

022 040 8903
04 237 7923

Christchurch Earthquake Response

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:51:00 -0600

Principles:

    * WCA will focus organisation support in areas where it has expertise
    * WCA will Link into existing coordination initiatives
    * WCA will not duplicate other initiatives that are well positioned to respond
    * Most likely value of WCA’s expertise will be in the second phase (3 – 6 months +)

Residential Elder Care:

WCA has made beds at its Wesleyhaven Village available, and is already accommodating six elderly people evacuated from Christchurch.

Care and Protection of Young People:

WCA has offered the provision of respite care if needed, as well as offered to take more young people into our residential facilities such as Te Whare Whakapakari and our Foster Care team. The CYF register has been up-dated accordingly, and key providers in Christchurch have been notified.

Donations of Money and or Respite Accommodation:

WCA staff are offering donations of money and respite accommodation on an individual basis via established organisations such as; http://www.redcross.org.nz

The Charter for Compassion

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:57:00 -0500

The Charter for Compassion is based on the Golden Rule that simply suggests that we put ourselves in others' shoes. That we should act toward others as we would want them to act toward us. That we should refuse, under any circumstance, to carry out actions which would cause them harm.

The principle is embraced by every faith and by every moral code. It is often referred to as 'The Golden Rule'.

To learn more about the Charter of Compassion and the Golden Rule, follow this link

To view the original Ted Talk follow this link

The Reluctant Gardener

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0500

“It’s so cool there, it’s a place to sit, a place where I can take time out, listen to the tui and woodpigeons. I’ve even got to know some of the residents there.

From the mowing over a flower garden, to now planting a garden and growing vegetables, there seems to have been quite a change in Russell’s approach to life. Russell readily admits that ongoing battles with ACC over a 2008 leg injury had left him frustrated, and when ACC told him that they had suspended all his claims, this news combined with losing his home help entitlement left him at a very low ebb.

Fortunately for Russell these same changes of circumstance led him to be reassessed by the Nurse Maud organisation, who in turn recommended regular visits from Wesley Community Action’s Community Worker, Anne Ross. It was from those humble beginnings there have been some recent positive changes in Russell’s life.

At the stage when Anne entered his life, Russell by his own admission was prone to, “mope around a bit..... the whole ACC thing mucked me around big time.”

Since then Russell says the assistance provided by Anne and Wesley, “has been “brilliant...... really supportive it’s not so much the advice that she gives, but that she gives me other ways of looking at things, it’s really turned me around.”

Russell jokingly relates that when Anne first introduced to him the idea of gardening his approach was more like one of the Tui beer advertisements, “Yeah Right”, he thought, and promptly put the idea, “on the back burner.” However a persistent Anne arranged for a trip to the local plant shop, seedlings were purchased and things literally grew from there, to the point where he proudly relates, “I’ve even given some of the lettuce I’ve grown to my cousins.... ‘I say hey bro, I grew this!’”

As Russell’s vegetable supply improved so too has his outlook on life. There are still battles for him to face, however now he seems better equipped to face them. He recently received a call from his local MP Trevor Mallard to attend a meeting to discuss his ACC claims and a long stalled hearing regarding re instatement is nearing culmination.

When Wesley Community Action recently put the call out for the donation of a ‘freezer’ for the Wesley Community Foodbank at Porirua, it was Russell who responded and donated his largely unused freezer.

Russell’s lounge proudly displays his National Certificate in Mental Health Support, and it is his hope that he can re enter the workforce as a mentor to those worse off than himself.

Good Cents at Work

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:37:00 -0500

Completing a Good Cents budgeting programme has had many benefits for Kay (not her real name.) A $2,000 debt with the IRD has been re-accessed; she has managed to repay outstanding debts with 2 loan companies that were costing her $110 per week; and perhaps the main benefit; she has regained confidence in herself.

Wesley Porirua Manager, Makerita Makepulu noted that when Kay started the 8 week programme, she was by far the quietest in the group.

Life had not been easy for Kay. Her mother died when she was 12 years old, and although her working father could sustain the family financially, Kay chose to leave home at the age of 14 to go and live with a sister.

Leaving home and learning to cope on her own was a huge ‘wake-up call’ for Kay and she found herself struggling. A brief attempt to return to school at 15 was unsuccessful, and by the age of 16 she found herself ‘on the benefit.’ By 18 she was pregnant and living with another sister to make ends meet.

Sharing accommodation with others is not something that a much wiser Kay now recommends, “I won’t share my home again. I like to do my own thing.” Sharing accommodation back in those days often meant loaning money to help friends and family. It was perhaps during this time, that Kay developed a habit for borrowing money, without being fully aware of the consequences.

“I remember on occasions being asked by a friend for money, so I would give it to them even though I was often in debt myself,” recalls Kay. However, as Kay later realized, her friends’ money worries often occurred because their partners were “playing the pokies, or drinking,” and Kay’s loan money only served to encourage these bad habits. Kay now recognises that her priority is looking after herself and her two sons, and that loaning or borrowing money is not as easy as it seems. There are repercussions.

Over the years Kay had approached Wesley Community Action in Porirua on several occasions, either for counseling assistance, or more recently for food bank assistance. On one of these visits in 2009, she was asked if she would like to participate in the Good Cents budgeting education programme, and decided to take up the opportunity.

One of the first exercises she completed was to record every item she was spending money on, for a whole week. She had never done this exercise before, and was amazed at what she learned. “It really opened my eyes. I had got into the habit of short term loans and was in debt with three different loan companies,” recalls Kay. It wasn’t big debt, but she was loaning money to spend on things like video games for her oldest son. Her loans were costing her $202 per week.

The exercise also showed her how to cut back on her unnecessary expenses, and she quickly began to pay-off two of the loan companies. However it wasn’t easy to turn her back on the comparative ‘easy money’ provided by the loan companies and during a weak moment, she re-borrowed from one of the very companies she had just paid off. However the short term joy of having ready money again was followed by the realisation that she was back on the treadmill, struggling to pay debts. This learning was shared with others in her Good Cents group, and Kay moved quickly to repay the money she had just borrowed.

Part of Kay’s Good Cents programme involved learning to communicate and to talk about the issues of debt. Skills which she put to good use when debt collector Baycorp rang her demanding payment of overdue school fees for her son’s education. Armed with her Good Sense skills, Kay quickly realized Baycorp were requesting weekly repayments that were well beyond her means, and negotiated a better outcome.

In the same way Kay faced up to an old debt with the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) that had been ticking away for 16 years and had grown to a debt of over $2,000. Negotiations with the IRD followed and eventually the debt was cancelled on hardship grounds.

What Kay liked about the Good Cents programme is summed up in her own words, “while other courses tell you what to do; Good Cents, helped to put me in charge of my money, so it was me making the decisions, not someone else.”

In the process, Kay has found her confidence, and is clearly proud of her achievements. She has regular work in a local supermarket, her family is eating cheaper more healthy food, and life is good. Looking ahead, her first priority is paying off the remaining loan, and beyond that she plans to save enough to take her family on holiday.

Given Kay’s new found confidence and her Good Cents skills, there is little doubt she will achieve her goals.

Wesleyhaven Honoured

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:31:00 -0500

The ‘Overall Excellence’ award means that Wesleyhaven has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to achieving excellence in aged care, and the Telecom Community Connections Award recognises exceptional effort in catering for residents needs and preferences by creating an environment which promotes inclusion and choice for older New Zealanders. This also includes the creation of a feeling of community within a facility, or the outreach of a facility to the surrounding community, to connect residents with their families and friends. Congratulations to the team at Wesleyhaven!