OVERSEAS WORK PARTY
WA State Catch Up 2023
“From the moment the work party team arrived in Manila the life changing journey and adventure began. The team were home hosted by local San Pablo Club members and dinner was all together at a different location or members home each night. laborum.”
Issue 47
Chinchilla Melon Fest
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We had Apexians from six clubs arrive in Chinchilla on the Friday before the festival. They travelled from Bundaberg, Maleny, South Toowoomba, Roma, Dalby and Tara.”
President’s Note BEN CURNOW
Greetings all,
Apex is in a good position currently, with membership staying consistent and showing a slight increase since Covid restrictions have finished. We have a real opportunity here to cash in on societies new found love of the country areas and wanting to do more for others. Many people have realised the importance of giving back and the relationship between helping others and their own personal happiness. Please continue to drive the membership of your clubs, as you are the sales people of Apex.
Apex is in a place of opportunity. My challenge to you all is that you seize the opportunities presented to you while you are in Apex. You can learn so much around project management, meeting procedures and board duties, travel to places you may never go otherwise and make connections all over Australia and Asia.
Why not consider the following:
- Travel to an Apex facility and learn about how it was made and what it can do? The Apex Copper Coast Retreat, The S.H.A.C.K. and the Apex Magic Castle are amazing examples of the power of Apexians.
- Build something in your local community? Upgrade a park, install a disability access ramp, fund and host a tree planting, paint an Apex mural. So many opportunities to put the Apex stamp on towns throughout Australia
- Host a large-scale event. Who knows how it could grow. The Apex Outback Postie Bike Ride and the Apex Gympie Music Muster started small. Now they are juggernauts of fun and fundraising.
- Get overseas! Join a work party or attend an overseas convention. Many lifelong friendships have been made by going abroad.
My message is clear: Don’t waste the opportunity you have been given by being in Apex. Take full advantage and contribute to communities beyond what you ever thought was possible. Don’t wait!
THE TIME IS NOW!
Ben Curnow, National President
LIGHTHOUSE COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL
Is there any better way to spend a long weekend in Queensland than at a Country Music Festival at the beach?
Well, if you asked the Apexians from the 5 different clubs cross Queensland who did just that they would have said no.
It was the third time that the Apex Club of Bundaberg has been asked to work the bar for the Lighthouse Hotel in Burnett Heads, a small beach town near Bundaberg. And in true Bundy fashion the call went out to other Apex clubs in the area to see if anyone would be interesting in coming. This call was answers by the Chinchilla, Murgon, Brisbane City and Toowoomba clubs. Along with members of the Bundy club 2 shifts of 20 people per shift was organised across the Saturday and Sunday of the Labor Day long weekend.
A lot of fun, laughter and fellowship was had across the weekend while listing to some great Australian country music artists like Lee Kernaghan, Casey Barnes, Adam Brand and Beccy Cole just to mention a few.
The weekend ran smoothly and was a great it with festival goers and Apexians alike. Let see who comes along next year.
OWP23 PHILIPPINES
OWP 23 - The Facts and Figures
- 1 Teacher, 1 Teachers assistantant and 24 children. All going to school under a tin roof awning on the side of the teachers house.
- The small Barangay of Atisan. The only Barangay in the Laguna Region, Luzon Island, Philippines to not have a school.
- Apex Australia partnered with the Apex Club of San Pablo and Apex Philippines to purchase the land and construct a school.
- An Overseas Work Party of 14 from Australia, travelled to the Phillipines and assisted in the last week of construction and attended the official opening of the school.
- The participants raised funds with the help of their local Clubs and with the assistance of some donations $28,480.11 was held in trust and distributed to the project from The Apex Charitable account.
- Participants from Australia were: Craig Martin LM Toowoomba (Team Leader), Simon Grant NP Beaufort, Grant family Bronwyn Harrison Matilda and Charlotte, Michael Godfrey PNP LM Wongan Hills, Greg Youngberry NB Toowoomba, Daniel Lascelles NB Kadina, Richard Stokes Beaufort, April Lancaster-Smith Toowoomba South, Elouise Wattie Biggenden, Gemma Stewart Brisbane City, Katie McIver Ballarat.
From the moment the work party team arrived in Manila the life changing journey and adventure began. The team were home hosted by local San Pablo Club members and dinner was all together at a different location or members home each night. A typical day for all was breakfast at home with their hosts then off to meet at the Clubhouse and ride the transport trucks up the hill to Atisan. The team participated in painting, rendering, mixing concrete and other duties to assist in the final construction of the school.
The locals in the Barangay were so appreciative and welcoming all very grateful for the gift that Apex was making possible. One morning we all went down to the the teacher’s house to see school in action and participate with the children. The photos only partly capture the magic of this experience.
The Sunday was declared a rest day and we were treated to a trip in a Jeepney, the local public transport, to a nearby lake. Bamboo rafts transported us across the lake and parked under leafy trees whilst we swam, ate a local lunch and most importantly had fun and fellowship.
The last day was the official opening with many dignitaries including the Barangay elders. The school was officially opened with the unveiling of a marker plate and being blessed by a local priest. This was followed by lunch and more activities and fun with the children.
From the Work Party we headed the the Apex Philippines National Convention. This was a great experience for the team as most had never attended an Overseas Convention.
All those involved, gave all and were part of “making a difference and Building better Communities” whilst having the time of their lives. If this is something that you aspire to as a young Apexian, stay tuned at Geraldton National Convention for what is going to be the next instalment of many Work Parties to come.
Craig Martin LMWA State Catchup KATANNING
WA State Catch Up
2023 - 3/3/23 to 5/3/23.
What an amazing weekend of citizenship, fellowship, and service! With a smaller number of attendees and only two-day event, the weekend was jam packed full of activities.
This year Apexians travelled from QLD, Busselton, Bunbury and Wongan hills and visited the Katanning Sheep Saleyards, All Ages Playground and Piesse Lake.
Attendees also got a little taste of the many different cultures in Katanning with a beautiful Cocos Malay dinner on Saturday night. To finish off the weekend Apexians undertook service work at Piesse Lake to and enjoyed lunch at Dome in the historic flour mill.
A big thank you to the Katanning club - JP, Marissah, Chloe, Pat, and Dita who really made this weekend a success. Also, a big shout out to Tony Wilshire who travelled across from Queensland to inform us about the awesome work of the foundation and how the foundation can make a difference in our local communities.
Thank you to everyone who travelled to Katanning to attend, and we can’t wait to see you all in Busselton for State Catch Up 2024.
We also look forward to seeing fellow east coast Apexians in Geraldton at National Convention in October.
Dylan Fryer
State Catch Up Coordinator & Region 13 Communicator
APEXIAN MINI BIO - JIM HUGHES
1. Year Joined Apex and which Club?
1975.
2. Favourite Apex Project/Event you have been involved in?
Children’s Cancer ‘ Help a Kid Make It’ campaign. Now is changing the world in knowledge and treatment of Lymphoblastoma ( Children’s Blood Leukaemia) Fantastic world class science laboratory.
3. First Car and what colour?
Moke Green
4. If you could have any superhero power, what would it be and why?
Nelson Mandela – leadership and change at a national level in your lifetime !.
5. If you could give new Apexians one piece of advice would it be?
Keep getting educated on an international level, thrive and harness the now contemporary world of artificial intelligence and robotics. Take every leadership role available in Apex. Make things happen, innovate the organisation and modernise its communications at National and Club level right it now !
Apexian Flashback
Our time in Asia by
‘NP Kotts’In August, National Coms Director Daniel Lascelles and myself were fortunate enough to attend the Apex Singapore and Apex Malaysia National Conventions. An absolute pleasure to be in attendance for both. I took away some fond memories from the experience and some great learning opportunities, which is the great fringe benefit of being an Apex member. Below are some of our highlights.
Singapore saw us at a Friday night social with majority of the members, some past members,
some of our friends from Bangladesh and some ex Aussie Apexians in attendance. (I owe Rob $20 SD). We had a tour of the aged care Hospice Centre, which is a fantastic example of what Apexians can achieve. The Food Distribution program has had a significant I.T. upgrade, with all volunteers using an app to track deliveries. An amazing program to be a part of and anyone going to Singapore should go and get involved as it occurs every Saturday, rain, hail or shine. I wish to thank all the Singaporean Apex
members for being so welcoming and showing Daniel and I a great time whilst in Singapore.
We then set off on a Woodzy’s Tour of Malaysia, run by Roy and Carol Woods. Joining in with that group was a pleasure, with the Chinchilla club making up the majority of the tour. We embraced the fourth ideal strongly and I was lucky enough to tour the Klang Special School, which is a fantastic
THE TIME IS NOW!
education centre built by Apex Australia and Apex Malaysia. I was also fortunate enough to induct members into the Apex Club of Sungai Petani and judge the public speaking competition at the National Convention. Some personal highlights of the trip were the vast array of food eaten, absolutely delicious, and a caving activity, which was one of the coolest adventure activities I’ve ever done.
Overall, our time away was enriching in so many ways. From a fellowship perspective, I have made so many connections with a range of internationals and Aussies. From a service
perspective, handing out food and doing a dedication to an Apex tree in Singapore was very cool. From a citizenship perspective, meeting beneficiaries of great Apex projects and seeing how locals look
those communities abroad. Daniel and I wish to thank all those who made our overseas
Apex Foundation grant to the White Cloud Foundation
Brisbane City Apex club applied for a grant with Apex Foundation to help support the Queenslandbased mental health charity White Cloud Foundation.
Apex Foundation generously provided a grant of $6,930 to help fund important training programs for its staff.
Staff at White Cloud include a combination of paid employees, clinical and non-clinical volunteers, and provisionally qualified student clinicians on placement.
Since receiving the funds from Apex in December 2022, 18 of White Cloud Tele-Mental Health’s staff have undertaken the 10-hour online Suicide Prevention course, with more to commence the training in the coming weeks and months.
Ongoing training is essential for all clinical and non-clinical staff working in the mental health sector, as methods and approaches to managing mental illness are constantly evolving. The Suicide Prevention Training provided by Care Collaborate Connect was specifically chose for White Cloud staff as it better equips our non-clinical staff with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to support people who are distressed, including people with suicidal thoughts. For their clinicians, it enhanced their ability to describe the differences between risk and needs approach to suicide prevention, solve ethical dilemmas within a person-centred framework and, unlike many other courses, focuses on identifying healthy and unhealthy coping strategies. It taught all staff how to create a coping environment around clients where they feel cared about and supported.
Offering training and educational opportunities also enabled White Cloud Foundation to attract and retain more volunteers and students. These volunteers and students are essential of the cost-effective delivery of the White Cloud Tele-Mental Health Service, and the more they have on staff, the more clients they are able to treat and support.
To date, the training has been extremely well received by staff and there has been a noticeable improvement in volunteer retention over the past six months. Through courses such as the Apex-funded Suicide Prevention, staff are feeling more supported in their clinical practice and have been able to improve the experience of ‘patient centred care’.
From the perspective of their clients, the ‘failed to attend rate’ has reduced and their call rates have increased. They interpret this to mean that callers are more likely to feel their needs have been met during their interactions.
Because of its success, White Cloud now plans to further extend the current Suicide Prevention training program by adding an additional 10 hours of ‘on-the-job’ competency-based training. They are also introducing a range of outcome measures specifically related to meeting client expectations.
Thanks Apex! Here is some of the feedback received from staff regarding the online Suicide Prevention training include:
• I absolutely loved the new approach to suicide prevention. Thanks so much for this training.
• Found the video examples excellent - has given me a more rounded understanding of crisis, dis tress and suicide backed by an insight into how to utilise Coping Planning strategies across many clients’ needs.
• The content was excellent, particularly in providing clear applications to clinical situations.
• Appreciate the opportunity, great informative course, learnt a lot not only for suicide prevention but also strategies for other mental health challenges.
• Excellent!
• I found the suicide prevention online training to be a very informative and easy to access. I found the information interesting but also gave me practical skills to assist all people dealing with mental health challenges. As someone who has had my own mental health challenges, I found the information regarding the coping mechanisms interesting and relatable. I appreciated the depth of information and videos that the training had to offer, and I definitely feel much more informed and empowered.
White Cloud Foundation has extended that all Apex members and their families are able to access to the Tele-Mental Health service for free. This service is not a crisis line, it is designed to help people in the earlier stages of depression and/or anxiety, to prevent little problems from becoming big problems. The service is also available to anyone who is trying to support a friend or loved one who is suffering. All you need to do is call White Cloud on 07 3155 3456.
Brisbane City Apex Club has kept up the relationship with the White Cloud Foundation and provided man power to their 50:50 Charity raffle that occurred in March 2023 at Suncorp Stadium at the QLD Reds game. On the night the club helped raise $15,000 by selling raffle tickets. $7500 is the prize and the other half went to the charity. It was a great night. The club looks forward to continuing supporting this worthwhile cause who are tackling mental health issues.
Brisbane City Apex Club would also like to encourage clubs to consider contacting Apex Foundation if there is something big you want to achieve and need some financial assistance to get something happening in your community.
Kelly Buchanan - Brisbane City Apex Club President 2022-2023
MELON FEST 2023
Like everyone else the Apex Club of Chinchilla was very excited for the return for the Chinchilla Melon Festival this year but unlike everyone else our minds were on something other than watermelons. Potatoes. Yes you read that right this Melon Fest Apex was all about the Potato and not just any kind of potato we were excited for Potato Slinky’s. Oh, and hot chips.
There is a lot of behind the scenes work that goes into bringing you the best Potato Slinkys and Hot Chips in Chinchilla and a frozen chip shortage did not help. Many hours were spent on the phone or travelling around the region ordering and organising everything we needed. There were potatoes, batter, working out if we could get chips, how to store them when we got them, upgrading and purchasing new equipment and filling in all the required forms. A lot of work.
The other part we were worried about was would be have enough volunteers on the day for everyone to be able to have a break and enjoy the festival. Unfortunately our club is only a small one these days with currently only eight active members, so we put the call out to other Apex clubs and they answered. We had Apexians from six clubs arrive in Chinchilla on the Friday before the festival. They travelled from Bundaberg, Maleny, South Toowoomba, Roma, Dalby and Tara. Unfortunately, our friends from Wandoan were unable to make it has they been helping fight the fires in the area.
The day of the festival arrived and we were all set up had the roster set and were ready to feed the masses. Before the parade even started, we had people asking if we had Slinkys ready yet. It was a full-on exhausting day but also very rewarding and impressive. We worked out after that we were making 100 Potato Slinkys and hour; you all must have been very hungry.
Last of all there is one other group of people that we need to thank other than all of you. And they are the Chinchilla Combined Churches Youth Group. These amazing kids and adults spent the day walking around the festival with the Apex drink carts selling ice cold water, Powerade and soft drinks making sure everyone at the festival stay well hydrated in the hot summer sun. We don’t know about you but we cant wait for the
2025 Chinchilla Melon Festival. Amy Patterson-Kane - President
ANZAC Day Gunfire Breakfast
Chinchilla
The sun has not risen yet but the Apex Club of Chinchilla is at full attention prepping the BBQ, setting out the egg rings and plugging in the toasters to start cooking as the first rays of light streak out across the sky on another emotionally charged ANZAC morning.
ANZAC day means a lot of different things to a lot of people. For Apexians in Chinchilla it is a day we remember and give back to those who have served our great country and to the Chinchilla community who come together at Dawn Service by providing a free breakfast also know as Gunfire Breakfast. The 5 Bs are on offer, Bangers, Bacon, Bumnuts, Beans and Burnt Toast. It is a proud tradition that the club looks forward to providing every year and we are thankful to the RSL for allowing us to continue the tradition.
ANZAC Day does not end though when the washing up is all completed and we have had some fellowship back at the Apex Shed. We are back to business again marching in the Parade representing Service Clubs in Chinchilla and paying our respects by laying a wreath
Chinchilla
APEX OUTBACK Postie Bike Ride
The 17th annual Apex Outback Postie Bike Ride was another outstanding success. Ninety people participated from 7th -10th September, seventy of them were on Honda postie bikes. This year we returned to the South Australian Flinders Ranges. The track was amazing this year, and yet again Mother Nature dished up all sorts, day 1 had an interesting forecast, rain in the morning, snow falling above 900 metres and 35 to 55 km/h winds. Thankfully the snow didn’t arrive and while a little cold and wet the riders continued without any significant hypothermia. The rain did add some extra fun and challenges in the form of puddles and a little mud for the remainder of the weekend.
There was another super effort in fundraising, with $143,905 raised in total to support the Apex Copper Coast retreats. The top fundraiser was Jamie Gerrish, who raised just over $40,000 which was an amazing mammoth effort. This takes the total funds raised from the event $1,653,595. The committee could never have dreamed of the success that the ride has been nor the difference that we would be able to make to the lives of families who have received a cancer diagnosis. It just goes to show what Apex can do and how we are able to build better communities.
Building Better Communities
The Ideals of the Association of Apex Clubs
To make the ideal of service the basis of all enterprise.
To develop by example a more intelligent and aggressive citizenship.
To provide means of forming enduring friendships, rendering altruistic service, and building better communities.
To promote international understanding and friendship.