CANTERBURY DSA GOING STRONG FOR FOUR DECADES

Donna Higgs has been the Regional Co-ordinator for the Canterbury Down Syndrome Association Committee for nearly a decade and looks back at where the CDSA came from and where it is heading. In 2012, I stepped into the shoes of Angelique van der Velden as Regional Coordinator. Angelique, who is still a committee member of the CDSA and NZDSA has been an amazing contributing member of the CDSA for over a decade. In that time I have worked with many wonderful people in the Christchurch Community. Recently, I came across a business plan written in 2009 and before I tell you more about the current CDSA, I would like to look back at some of the early history as it was described in that 2009 document. In 1985, the Canterbury Downs and Special Needs Support Group started and organised socials, a library and provided information and support to the families of children with DS. In 2000 this group became known as the Canterbury Down Syndrome Association and continued to organise monthly socials for families and an annual Christmas party. In May 2005 a separate group was launched called the Canterbury UPP Club, a peer support group for teenagers and young adults with DS and is run by a paid Programme Co-ordinator. In September 2008 the CDSA became incorporated, with governance and support by volunteers and continues to provide information and support to the families of children with DS through quarterly socials, a quarterly newsletter, coffee evenings, an advocacy service, a Christmas party and weekly football sessions over summer with Halswell United AFC. We are an organisation of 96 families (2009), each with a child with Down syndrome and are governed by an elected committee currently with 9 members. The 10-year goal is complete financial independence. Financial independence for the CDSA is the ability to fund advocacy for individual families, administrative and community support objectives. Major education and advocacy events will be expected to be cash flow neutral or in the case of events for professionals cash flow positive. For 2010 onwards we aim to be $10,000 cash flow positive allowing us a financial base to underwrite an expanded education program. As we are now preparing for World Down Syndrome Day in 2021, for me personally it gives me great pride to see the dedication of the past and present committees continuing to deliver the original vision of 2009. We now have a current membership of 156 families, a committee of 11, a beautiful new logo and website designed by Dan te Kaat. Dan also designs all of our flyers for workshops and events. Dan has been a member of the CDSA committee for 9 years, over this time has

Mums at 2020 Christmas party

PJ Disco

contributed generously to the CDSA community. Our current treasurer Bronwyn Ziolo, with the support from a past chairperson Diane Mulholland, have brought the CDSA committee into a strong position to manage funding, auditing and grant tracking. A large part of my role is to manage the funding, auditing and outcomes for the CDSA Committee. I have been fortunate to be supported by two wonderful treasurers, Maree Docherty and Bronwyn Ziolo. CDSA Committee and STRIVE member Andrew Oswin and myself started data cleansing in early 2020, but we had no idea that the work we had done would be so valuable when lockdown arrived. Andrew volunteers each year and this year Andrew's new goal is to scan files from the past 10 years and to help me update our drive. Andrew has wonderful attention to detail and I value his contribution to the CDSA committee so much, also he is great fun to work with. If you wish to join the Canterbury membership contact us on cdsainc@gmail.com The editor of Chat 21 asked me to tell you about Canterbury, so I thought I would give a look inside the past year. Lockdown was spent contacting our members on the email network and phone, offering updated information and generally just checking in for a chat. We then moved onto committee zoom meetings where we identified the changes in funding and developed a new plan for the year looking at how we could continue to provide the support our community needed. Looking back, we nearly achieved everything we had planned, just in a different way. Of course, with exception for the social events that needed to be cancelled during lockdown including World Down Syndrome Day 2020. As lockdown ended we decided to move full steam ahead for the year, starting with a visit from Maree Kirk who spent a day with us meeting teachers, teacher aides and parents and discussing the bespoke resources available in our library for loan. We even had a visit from our newest and youngest member for 2020 baby Jonty Bailey. Maree hosted three seminars throughout the year, five days in total. Supported Teaching Practice for Children with Down Syndrome and Learning Disabilities (STPDS) which includes the topics of Universal Design for Learning, Numeracy, Literacy, ICT and Transition to School. Socially we needed to be creative ensuring we were hosting events within the COVID level restrictions. This took extra planning and managing, but we felt it was important to ensure a safe environment for families to connect. We hosted a PJ Disco party with our wonderful DJ Josie Noble, which was attended by a large number of young adults. They danced the afternoon away and it was a delight to see all the young people face to face again. We love your playlist Josie, it is spot on.

Christmas 2020 hosted by Mike Dormer

The Sony Camp

The fundraising also began immediately, with a fundraising evening hosted by Lighthouse Brewery. A percentage of takings were donated by The Chippy and Lighthouse Brewery, the two local businesses who supported the event, providing raffle and chocolate wheel items. The biggest surprise of the evening was lots of socks and gold coin fundraising donations from a local school. Next on the calendar was a Quiz Night hosted at The Elmwood Tavern, where the committee pulled together to help with the selling of tickets, and the gathering of raffle and auction items. This year we also had a collaboration project with the year 13 students from the Villa Maria College. AllGOOD & CO developed a trio of socks with the artwork of a local young member, and a percentage of sales being donated to CDSA. It was a magical year of donations from a range of businesses and schools, not something that we had at all expected. Towards the end of the year we hosted two information evenings, one with Joanna Hannah from Parent to Parent on Individual Education Plans and Bridget Snedden who spoke about Conversations that Matter. Maree and Bridget also fitted in a quick visit to the Champion Centre and were my guest speakers at the CAN meeting. Our CDSA Strategic Planning Meeting was held with Trish Hughes, Community Operations Manager from The Department of Internal Affairs/ Te Tari Taiwhenua. Shelley and Rochelle Waters are two committee members who held a wonderful coffee catch up in Rolleston for the members in the Selwyn District. Patrice, another committee member, hosted a family morning at He Puna Taimoana during the school holidays. On top of all that we also helped facilitate information and registrations for: The Special Children's Christmas Party, The New Zealand Down Syndrome Youth Camp, The Sony Foundation Camp and The Willows Christmas Party. In between we also ensured some Professional Development with Barrer and Co via Zoom and Governance Bites with Volunteering Canterbury. The Regional Coordinator attended and hosted the CAN meetings throughout the year as well as attending the committee and regional zoom meetings. As per tradition, we ended the year with The Willows Christmas Party, hosted by Mr Mike Dormer and The Willows Cricket Club who have spoilt us for over a decade now. We have connected with a range of parents and educators over this period, met new families, created new connections as well as support. We have provided advocacy and information through our network email database and social media, updating the membership with important community information. To top it off, we had a lot of fun along the way.