Pymble Gives Back Brochure

PYMBLE

Caring for our community and sharing moments of joy

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CONTENTS Introduction.......................................................... 3 Cook up some comfort...................................... 5 Join the civilian army of volunteers................. 6 Write to a new friend.......................................... 7 Knit one, wrap one.............................................. 8 Sew some hearts for newborns........................ 9 Make meals for emergencies.......................... 10 Entertain the elderly...........................................11 Buddy-up with books....................................... 12 Show some love to health heroes.................. 13 Brighten a child’s day........................................ 14

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Care for others lies at the very heart of our Pymble family.

Our Community Service programs are essential components of our girls’ learning during the best of times and even more important when times are tough.

As Australia moved into isolation, our community wanted to know how can we continue to help people in need to feel loved, connected and cared for while maintaining our social distance? The answer is Pymble Gives Back, a program of activities that enables our girls, their families and Pymble staff to continue their commitment to care for and support others in need and to share some joy, safely and with love.

We’d love to hear how you engage in this program, so please send your videos, photos and stories of sharing care and joy to pgb@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au.

Happy giving back.

Dr Kate Hadwen PRINCIPAL

g n i k o o c e v o l u o y Do ? . . . g n i k or ba

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COOK UP SOME COMFORT What Love cooking or baking? Why not spend some time in the kitchen to provide some home-cooked comfort for the women seeking refuge in the network of Women’s Community Shelters.

Why Women’s Community Shelters in NSW are currently full of women seeking refuge from domestic abuse as a direct result of isolation due to COVID-19.

Donating meals enables the network to channel more funds into helping the women get back on their feet with safe housing, work and court case support.

How The shelters are seeking donations of prepared meals (such as spaghetti Bolognese, casseroles, curries etc) and bags of fruit and vegetables.

Please ensure meals are labelled, can be frozen and are in non-returnable containers.

Deliver your meals to: 3 Stephen Street, Hornsby (between Railway Parade and Sherbrook Road). There will be a table under the carport for food deliveries.

Alternative meal drop-off point: Centenary Car Park at Pymble on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings from 5.00pm to 6.00pm.

For more information: contact Sallianne McClelland on 0408 670 207 or visit bit.ly/PGBBeecroft

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JOIN THE CIVILIAN ARMY OF VOLUNTEERS

What Ku-ring-gai Neighbourhood Centre (KNC) is seeking volunteers to help distribute KNC flyers offering support to seniors and the disabled in our community and to help deliver these support services, which include delivery of essential items and non-contact tasks for clients. In addition, Ku-ring-gai Council requires adult volunteers to liaise with small businesses about ways the government can support them.

Why Many KNC volunteers are over 65 and in the most at-risk category for COVID-19. Repopulating the volunteer base with young and fit members of the community will ensure that the vulnerable can still receive essential services like food and medicine while senior KNC volunteers can stay at home to protect themselves.

How Please click on the volunteer form below to apply. All applications will go to a Pymble co-ordinator, who will liaise between KNC and each volunteer to allocate appropriate jobs as they arise.

To apply to be a KNC or Ku-ring-gai Council volunteer: please click here.

Notes for parents: please note that adult volunteers will also need to complete a police check. KNC will manage this process for adult volunteers.

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WRITE TO A NEW FRIEND What There’s nothing better than receiving a letter! Children of all ages (and adults) are encouraged to write a letter and/or draw a picture to post to aged care residents in Bupa facilities. Alternatively, you can send an email, with photos or pictures attached, to residents at Uniting Northaven.

Why Residents in aged care facilities may feel lonelier than ever, with external entertainment cancelled and visitors significantly reduced. Receiving a letter may help them to feel connected and that they have a new friend who cares.

How For more information on what to include in your letter visit: bit.ly/PGBBupaMail Post your letter to: Bupa St Ives or any of the 72 Bupa aged care residences, which you can find on their website www.bupa.com.au Email your letter to: pgb@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au and we will forward it on to Uniting Northaven.

Notes for parents: the Bupa pen-pal program suggests including a name and address for return correspondence, however this is at parents’ discretion and not compulsory.

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KNIT ONE, WRAP ONE What Enjoy the meditative effects of knitting to create 25cm x 25cm woollen squares, which are then sewn together to become blankets distributed by the Wrap With Love charity.

Why Our Senior School girls and families have been supporting Wrap With Love for many years. This much-loved charity delivers cheerfully coloured homemade blankets to people in Australia and around the world who need some warmth and love in their lives.

How To knit each 25cm x 25cm square, you will need a pair of Size 8 (4mm) knitting needles and 50gms of 8 ply yarn. All squares are knitted in easy garter stitch. For more instructions visit Wrap With Love at bit.ly/PGBWrap Deliver your knitted squares to: all knitted squares can be delivered to the Senior School Office at the end of Term 3. As per usual, the College will organise the delivery of all squares to Wrap With Love at the end of that term.

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SEW SOME HEARTS FOR NEWBORNS What Grab your needle and thread and sew two heart-shaped pieces of fabric together for newborn babies in Westmead Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Why The soft fabric hearts are calming and reassuring for newborn babies in the NICU. Mum or Dad wears the heart against their skin for a short time after which the fabric heart is placed in the cot with their baby. The familiar scent helps the baby to settle and may also help with breastfeeding.

How Click on the link below for the heart template and instructions: bit.ly/FabricHearts Post your fabric hearts to: Westmead Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit [NICU] Lactation Consultant PO Box 533 Wentworthville NSW 2145

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MAKE MEALS FOR EMERGENCIES What Make a home cooked and freezable family meal to contribute to Pymble’s Care and Support program, run by our Parent Support Groups.

Why When members of our Pymble family go through difficult times or emergencies, a well-stocked freezer of food enables the relevant Parent Support Group to deliver home-cooked meals for families to help reduce some of the daily pressure.

How Cook a family meal that is easy to freeze and reheat, place it in a nonreturnable container/s labelled with all ingredients and deliver to Pymble.

Deliver meals to: the trestle table at the back of the Centenary Car Park at Pymble on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings from 5.00pm to 6.00pm. This is also the collection point for Care and Support co-ordinators to pick up meals to be delivered to families in need.

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ENTERTAIN THE ELDERLY What Can you sing, dance, recite a poem or play an instrument? Email a video of your performance to us to share with elderly residents at Uniting Northaven and/or Bupa St Ives.

Why Residents in aged care facilities may feel lonelier than ever, with external entertainment cancelled and visitors significantly reduced. Staff at each facility will show videos to each resident in their room to brighten their day.

How Videos should include a short greeting. You can let them know you are a student at Pymble Ladies’ College but please don’t share any personal information such as your name, age or year group. You could say something like: “Hello, I’m a student at Pymble Ladies’ College and I want to share one of my favourite pieces of music/dance routines with you.

I really hope you like it, too.”

Email your video to: pgb@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au and we will send it to our contacts at Uniting Northaven and Bupa.

Notes for parents: please click here to give your consent for your daughter to share her video performance.

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BUDDY-UP WITH BOOKS What Our reading buddy program connects girls in K-6 with a reading buddy in Years 7 to 10. The older girls can read to the younger girls or younger girls can read to their older buddy.

Why This is a great way for our younger girls to form a bond with an older girl based on the joy of reading to each other.

How Depending on their age, girls or their parents can email our reading buddy co-ordinator requesting to be part of the program. Once we have an older/younger pair, our coordinator will email both students and parents to establish the buddy connection. Students and parents can then establish a time/s each week for the buddies to meet via Microsoft Teams.

To apply to be a buddy: click on this link.

Notes for parents: upon request for your daughter to be a buddy, you automatically give consent for your email details to be shared between buddy families.

Please ensure your daughter follows College protocols when meeting with her buddy and is situated in an appropriate location in your home.

If your daughter doesn’t use Microsoft Teams yet, you can find instructions to download Teams in the Student Toolkit.

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SHOW SOME LOVE FOR HEALTH HEROES

What Enjoy the challenge of mastering the ancient art of origami to create beautiful paper hearts to send to staff at various Sydney hospitals.

Why The Hearts for Hope AU initiative stems from one of our Year 10 girls, Meera, who aims to deliver 10,000 hearts to 35-40 hospitals in Sydney and rural NSW to say “thank you, we love you� to staff working on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic.

How Just watch this You Tube clip to learn how to fold a simple origami heart.

The only equipment you need is squares of paper, any size.

Deliver your hearts to: the trestle table at the back of the Centenary Car Park at Pymble on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings from 5.00pm to 6.00pm.

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BRIGHTEN A CHILD’S DAY What Create activity packs with colouring-in pages, activity sheets, pencils or textas for children in women’s shelters.

Why Women’s Community Shelters in NSW are currently full of women with young children who are seeking refuge from domestic abuse as a direct result of isolation due to COVID-19. Donating activity packs can help to brighten the day of the children who arrive at the shelters with nothing.

How You can donate unused colouring-in and activity books or create your own activity packs by printing out colouring-in pages, activity sheets, puzzles and word searches and placing them in plastic sleeves. New or working coloured pencils are also gratefully received.

Deliver your activity packs and pencils to: the trestle table at the back of the Centenary Car Park at Pymble on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings from 5.00pm to 6.00pm.

Alternative drop-off point: 3 Stephen Street, Hornsby (between Railway Parade and Sherbrook Road). There will be a table under the carport for deliveries.

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Watch us change the world.

PYMBLE

2020-EXE-1v9

Avon Road, Pymble NSW 2073 PO Box 136, North Ryde BC NSW 1670 Australia Phone +61 2 9855 7799 www.pymblelc.nsw.edu.au