News & Events > Consumer's Newsletters > December 2007
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December 2007Valley Transitionz goes back to school!
 The VT volunteers hard at work. If there’s something strange, in your refrigerator, who are you gonna call? Well no one really as it’s most likely mould or food gone bad. At the beginning of November, Valley Transitionz arranged for 13 Volunteers on the programme to attend a 3 day Food Saftey course at Weltec in Petone. Alan and Victoria, the Valley Transitionz volunteer coordinator at Take 5 in Lower Hutt also attended. The volunteers learnt about some pretty nasty bugs, their effects and what causes these bugs to arise. We like to think that we’re pretty knowledgeable about how to keep a kitchen completely clean of bugs but even then it’s sometimes not enough.Those bugs can be tough! A lot of us were pretty shocked that most of our basic food practices were nothing more than a perfect way for bacteria to grow. It was defiantly a wake up call. The Weltec tutor, Alan made everything simple to understand and when it’s easier to take in, it’s easier to remember so that was defiantly something that made the course fun and exciting to attend.  Alan (the tutor) and David Stuart. By Peter Hall 2007, it's over already? 2007 has been a very busy and succesful year for Valley Transitionz. Contacting a prospective employer is just the beginning of a long process of securing a work placement for volunteers on our programme. Usually Valley Transitionz will either ring an employer or send an employer some literature explaining how the Valley Transitionz programme works and how Valley Transitionz is helping our volunteers on the road to recovering from mental health issues. We arrange a meeting with the employer and fully explain the benifits of our programme. This sometimes involves a tour of the work enviroment for a better understanding of the work place, what the job will involve and to make sure we fully understand the kind of worker the employer is looking for. These meetings do not always lead to an immediate job placement, but Valley Transitionz feels that it is benificial to all, as these employers will bear us in mind when a suitable vacancy does become available. If the employer does give us a work placement, we advertise that vacancy on the Valley Transitionz notice board at each of the 4 drop in centres that our volunteers use. Any of our volunteers that feel ready to "give it a go" can apply for that vacancy and we try to ensure that we take the most suited applicant foward to meet with the employer. This year, that process has led to 6 successful work placements of between 6 and 9 months. There are several employers that have asked us to contact them in the new year and hopefully that will lead to more placements. By Peter HallValley Transitionz Christmas BBQ Alan, Victoria and Charmaine were so happy to see a lot of you at the Valley Transitionz BBQ on the 5th of December and weren't we lucky with the weather!!! Also congratulations again to our volunteers that attended the Food Saftey course. We are hoping to arrange other courses in the New Year. It would be helpful to us if you could let us know if there is any training you think would be useful. |