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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-06-13 Daily Xml
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VIEW CLUBS

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (15:36): I think most members here would know of the work of The Smith Family and their consistent and rewarding work of helping disadvantaged young people achieve more than they expected and often to realise their potential through education, but members may not be as well aware of the VIEW Clubs. VIEW is a nationwide women's organisation of 20,000 members, established by The Smith Family back in 1960, when George Forbes was the secretary of The Smith Family.

Officially, VIEW stands for Voice, Interests and Education of Women, and the purpose is described as:

VIEW empowers women through its voice, interest and education of women

VIEW provides support and friendships for women throughout communities nationally

VIEW actively raises awareness of and participates in the work of The Smith Family

That sounds all very dry, and my encounters with the VIEW women so far have been anything but dry. Last Friday, I had the pleasure and privilege of having a meeting with Velda Atkinson, the 2012-13 National Vice President of VIEW clubs; Erica Kakoshke, National Councillor; and Darilyn Roman, a member of the Marion club; together with Tammy Kennedy, a Learning for Life worker with The Smith Family in Morphett Vale.

These women are seeking to establish a VIEW Club in Morphett Vale, and I am very pleased to give them my full support in doing that; in fact, a couple of regular volunteers in my office also attended the meeting—two women and one man. The man has undertaken to be an advocate for VIEW even though he cannot join it.

The Smith Family does wonderful work in my local area. In Christie Downs, it is supporting 280 young people. It is running a traditional primary learning club and two important new programs, Boyz Biz and Girls on Track. In Morphett Vale, it is supporting 283 young people and running primary active learning clubs and primary traditional learning clubs. It is also supporting the Let's Read program.

The Boyz Biz and Girls on Track are to support young people through adolescence. During this club, through this activity, The Smith Family, and the VIEW Club members who are supporting them, discovered that many children who attend these programs share one toothbrush among a whole family, have no money in the family for shampoos, conditioners and deodorants, and might even struggle to find a comb they can use. So, among the many activities of the VIEW Club, one is to provide these basic toiletries for young people who are struggling to be able to present themselves with the hygiene and presentation standards that we expect today simply because we all know that toothpaste, deodorant, toothbrushes are very expensive.

The VIEW Club works practically in providing backpacks and school supplies; it supports the work of The Smith Family; and one of the intriguing things that it does is make reading mats. These mats can be knitted, crocheted, or they might be a tapestry or quilting. They are about two feet square, which I am told is about 700 to 800 millimetres, and they are of interesting—sorry, you are going to tell me?

Mr Griffiths: There are 30.4 centimetres to a foot.

Ms THOMPSON: Two feet, isn't it? Whatever that converts to. They are interesting and each one is special and each child participating in Let's Read gets to choose their own reading mat, which is a special place for them to sit as they read with their parents. A heart warming story that I heard at this meeting was that the Let's Read program had conducted a program for dads at one of my local kindies, and a dad who was separated from his daughter rings her every night, and she gets out her reading mat, sits on it, and he reads her a story.

This is the wonderful, practical, everyday work done by the VIEW Clubs. It is my pleasure to give them some publicity because I had to discover them by accident at a Make Morphett Vale Magic event, in which they were participating, and then I have followed up to the extent that I am supporting them to establish a club in Morphett Vale, and I welcome it greatly.

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