August
MOtHs Survey Results, Advocacy & Events
This month we’ve been doing one almighty juggling act as we introduce events and activities at the new MotHs Hub, review survey results from our online members to better serve the group as a while, execute events while planning for the BIG ones ahead, advocate of community issues and pursue new connections. And exhale… I know you’re busy so here’s what’s happened in a snapshot and heads up for this month.
At the MotHs Hub
The MotHs book club had their first meet.
Pilates on a Monday morning commenced
What’s coming up at the MotHs Hub (around the school holidays)
Mindfulness Self care - an introductory guide takes place on September 14th. Only 4 spots left. Details and to book can be found here.
MotHs Who Wine will have their first meet.
Bushfire Planning with Wine & Cheese will happen too
Business Mums of the Hills will have their monthly meet
Insurance Health Check event is on September 28th. 1 spot left! Details here
Survey Results
We had a fantastic response to our annual MotHs survey with 962 online members (approx 15%) participating. In short, the responses indicate that while the online group is great at things such as reducing feelings of isolation, providing support on difficult issues, and recommendations for businesses and parenting needs, many still find it difficult to make the leap into place-based connections. Our online member base is still predominantly mums with young children but an increasing number are mums with teenagers. We’ve heard the call for more groups centred on this stage of parenting.
More events, workshops and groups have been asked for particularly in education and skills and cyber safety too (Roger that). Lastly there was no clear winner in local issues that people were concerned about (which isn’t surprising considering they are all important) but the concerns that just edged out the others were:
climate change
roads and infrastructure, and
availability of long day care
Lots of great feedback and lots questions and suggestions which I will endeavour to answer in a FAQ section in the coming days.
The Great Childcare Desert
We’re grateful to Federal Minister for Casey Aaron Violi MP for taking our concerns about the area’s long day care shortages to Federal Parliament in early August. In the lead up to the Casey Federal election last year, we sited an ABC article on child-care blackspots, which likened areas including the Yarra Ranges region to a childcare ‘desert’. Sadly, little has changed since then, with 15.43–15.87 children still competing for every childcare place in the Yarra Ranges region and many families currently on two year waitlists for available spots. It’s little wonder I’ve been told that finding childcare is now one of the biggest concerns for parents of young children. You can read more about the situation in our advocacy blog here.
AusNet collaboration with DTN
MotHs had the opportunity to pass comment on the AusNet collaboration with DTN. If you haven’t heard, DTN is a global data, analytics and technology company that will use their Storm Impact Analytics to create an outage planning and prediction solution to better equip AusNet to prepare and respond to extreme weather events. We were please to hear about this collaboration seeing it as a step forward in the face climate change and the increasing threat of more frequent and severe bushfires and storms. We hope that the analytics will also settle the debate on whether placing AusNet infrastructure underground would be a more financially prudent decision in the long run.
In the meantime we are also interested to hear whether the analytics will be used to decide infrastructure plans on catastrophic weather days. There have been some widely publicised bushfire ignitions attributed to power line sparks in the past and so understanding whether these analytics could be used for preventative purposes is another question we’re interested in hearing about. Stay tuned.
Free Food Market
We have The Philanthropic Collective to thank for creating a special Free Food Market slot for MotHs. If you haven’t heard about them, The Philanthropic Collective is a wholly volunteer-driven charitable organisation which aims to generate good will within our local community. Their Free Food Program is amazing, serving local residents residing in our ridge towns the groceries they need on a weekly basis. With the added support of Food Bank, our market slot provided a further 130 moth family members with groceries last week. No wonder TPC is the Yarra Ranges Council 2023 Community Group of the Year! Thank you TPC and volunteer Georgie Smith and family for your help.
Connecting Communities in Cardinia Shire
Did you know that Mums of the Hills Inc covers suburbs within 5 local government areas? Yup. It’s true we cover a big area, including the entire Yarra Ranges council area, but we stretch out to Emerald, Gembrook and Cockatoo as well and with so many MotHs living in these areas now, we want to do what we can to connect and create events activities there too. A big thanks to Emerald Village Association for inviting Mums of the Hills president Belinda Young along to talk about the group and how we are trying to connect mums and services together.
Thank you Emerald Rotary Club!
We are really looking to our new alarm system going in at the MotHs Hub thanks to the generosity of Emerald Rotary Club. Since first meeting with the Emerald Rotary Club last year, we’ve been slowly building this relationship.
Truth be told, I was a Rotary Exchange student (to Denmark) back in the 90’s in North Queensland and my experience of Rotary was vastly different to the diverse group of awesome locals I met at Emerald Rotary Club. It’s a fantastic club with a very active member base. I highly recommend joining them! We are so grateful for this contribution which will make the MotHs Hub super safe and secure. Thank you Emerald Rotary.
This Month was all food and fun with memes. Enjoy
MotHs Inc goes above and beyond for its community. We advocate on the issues we see, hear about and directly experience within our community, facilitate connections to provide mother-to-mother emotional and physical assistance, provide timely information about community events and emergency preparedness, promote local businesses and maintain a place-based hub. But we can’t do this without your support. We appreciate each and every subscriber. Thank you for keeping this community running.
