Quota Whitsunday long lunch a delicacy

President Quota International of Whitsunday Barbara Kinsey has hailed the club’s long lunch, held this weekend at Whitsunday Gold, a success; with 96 locals heading out to Whitsunday Gold on Saturday to support the club.

“We had 96 attendees, which was great to see,” Ms Kinsey said. “It was astounding to see such a strong level of support from the community.

 “We had raffles and auctions, and the attendees loved both the food and the live entertainment, which were both amazing,” she said.

“All the proceeds from our events are pooled together, and at the end of the year, funds are given back to worthwhile local causes.

“The funds raised will go towards out hearing awareness project to take place at the high school in October,” Ms Kinsey said. “The project is aimed at raising awareness in young adults of the dangers of continual loud music, which can have long-lasting damage on their hearing.”

But don’t worry if you missed out on the long lunch, with Ms Kinsey reassuring the Guardian that Quota is gearing up for another must-attend event in the coming weeks.

“Our next event is our cocktail party, which is set to be just as memorable,” Ms Kinsey said.

Whitsunday community garden launched

 Four organisations, comprising Get Set for Work, Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA), Quota International of Whitsunday and TAFE, have come together to establish a community garden, located at the Cannonvale campus of TAFE.

 Get Set for Work Co-ordinator Kerrie McCallum-Coles said an important focus of the project was helping the youth of the region, with six people from Get Set for Work and seven from the National Green Jobs Core currently taking part.

 “With this particular group of people we’re trying to give them some work ethics, life experience, basic employability skills, and we’re also exposing them to local businesses and employment organisations in the region that might hopefully lead to future job opportunities,” she said.

 “We’re targeting people who need a chance to show they can do something. It’s the teamwork that’s going to be one of the biggest things they’ll get out of this. Also we’re going to be beautifying the grounds of the TAFE and in particular the restaurant,” she said.

 Horticulture teacher Penny Taylor said her students would be able to maintain the garden, learning along the way.

 “For both horticulture and hospitality students this garden is going to be an educational tool,” she said.

 Stakeholders in the community garden project met last Wednesday to pour over the new plans for a green space, which will CVA Regional Manager Caitlin Davies says will be user-friendly, easy to maintain and “adaptable according to the materials that we receive through donations”.

 Ms Davies said the design now before the team incorporated bird and herb gardens along with native and bush tucker plants.

 “We’ve got grand plans but it really depends on what we get – what local businesses feel they can donate to support the youth of the region,” she said.

 Ms Davies said materials such as mulch, soil, compost, pavers or river pebbles and plants were particularly welcome.

 “We welcome any donations and we’re aiming to use as many recyclable materials as possible to make this even more ‘earth’ friendly,” she said.

 Sienna Duffy, who will be participating in the program through Get Set for Work said she was very much looking forward to making the garden grow.

 “I love that it’s outdoors – it’s a moveable project, and hopefully something that will help me get a job or traineeship from” she said.

 The group will work on the garden throughout November, meeting every Tuesday for five weeks.

Whitsunday women form new Quota club

A group of passionate, young Whitsunday women will make history on October 8 when their group is chartered to become the very first group of its kind in the nation.

Officially called the Quota International of Whitsunday Coast, a group of some 15 community spirited women put their heads together some weeks ago to form what is arguably the very first “all young members' club” in Australia.

Group president Amanda Porter said the newly formed group was hoping to attract a few more professional, young women in their 20s and mid 30s who were interested in the social aspect as much as the charitable side of the organisation.

“Many of us did a fair bit of community work in high school … but it’s really just about young people who are looking for a good social networking opportunity and those who are passionate about their community,” Ms Porter said.

Only weeks old and the women are bursting with ideas to raise money including bake-offs, fashion parades, trivia nights and a booze cruise.

“Already we have a couple of projects we’d like to work towards including raising some money for youth space, put some more playground equipment around and deck out the green room at the hospital with a bit more stuff,” she said.

Veteran Quotarian and president of Quota International Whitsunday Jeanette Gray said the local Quotarians were actually world leaders in starting new clubs.

“There have been eight new clubs chartered internationally in the past 18 months …. Two of them are in this district. “All young people looking for professional development experience, the opportunity to travel and meet people should get involved,” she said.