lue edge - blue light qld
TRANSCRIPT
Edition 16 - 2019
Contents: Blue EDGE Update - Charleville Billy Cart Derby - Browns Plains Youth Camp
Hinchinbrook Reconciliation Event - State Coordinator’s Report - Corporate Club Supporters
Blue EDGE
Our Blue EDGE (Educate, Develop, Grow, Empower) Program
continues to grow in popularity, with more and more schools
and communities requesting our assistance.
EDGE is a robust intervention program developed by Qld Blue
Light for at risk youths aged 12 – 17 years. Police and civilian
volunteers mentor groups of up to 20 young people twice a
week for eight weeks. Each session involves 30 – 45 minutes
of exercise, followed by a shower and breakfast. Life skills
lessons are delivered, with some core topics being the role of
the police, the importance of education, health and nutrition,
goal setting and asking for help. Lessons can be customised
to address issues specific to each area, for example drugs and
alcohol or gang related violence.
We are proud to have now delivered 41 EDGE programs
throughout Queensland. KPMG are currently overseeing the
second extensive evaluation of the program, and the findings
will be available by mid next year. We anticipate the same
positive findings as reported in the last report from June
2018.
QBLAI works closely with local schools, Police staff and other
community organisations to deliver these programs. This
whole of community approach is helping to break down
barriers between young people and their peers, as well as
adult mentors from the community. Career education is
another important issue discussed over the program. Special
guest speakers are invited to address and motivate
participants which has seen some participants find jobs in
their local communities.
We hope to keep expanding our Blue EDGE program with
financial assistance from various sources. Our Corporate Club
supporters continue to be our biggest ongoing source of
income. We also receive grant income from the Australian
Drug Foundation, the Australian Government and the
Queensland Police Service.
EDGE Programs
delivered
Young people
completed EDGE
Police & Civilian
Volunteers
Charleville Blue Light Billy Cart Derby
Charleville’s Inaugural Billy Cart Derby was held on Saturday
the 7th September. This event was the culmination of many
hours of work put it by the volunteers from Charleville Blue
Light and the other not for profit groups in the community.
The day began for attendees at 10am, with family activities
held at St Mary’s school. Blue Light had a display with a lucky
dip where every child won a prize. This was an opportunity
to talk to local kids as well as their parents about Blue Light
and what we do in the community. There was a BBQ and
mini golf, and kids participated in egg and spoon, sack, three
leg races and tug’o’war. This kept everyone amused while
the carts were being scrutineered and registered prior to
racing. This was no small job, with over 40 carts to process!
Racing began at 1pm. Participants were sorted into various
age categories, along with an open category. Inspector
Stuart Day was there all day, to ‘pull the lever’ and start every
race, and give out prizes at the finish.
Senior Constable Leanne Day is our Blue Light Coordinator in
Charleville. Leanne did an outstanding job of organising the
event, with a lot of help of course from the local community
It was well promoted and people travelled from afar to
compete. As well as organising registrations, trophies,
racing order and all of the things visible to the community
on the day, Leanne put a huge amount of work in behind
the scenes to ensure the safety of all participants. Every
cart was scrutineered by a qualified mechanic (QBLAI
Volunteer) who was on hand all day to make minor repairs
as needed. Leanne spent the day under a marquee at the
starting line, making sure all of the pre-race checks
happened, and then calculating the results from each heat
so that the races were seamless.
The day was a wonderful success, and people young and old
enjoyed the activities on offer. It was fantastic to see the
people from this drought ravaged community coming
together to have some fun. Even the day’s dust storm
didn't manage to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm.
Above: Winners are grinners! Inspector Day awarding
some of the days prizes.
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Browns Plains Blue Light
Youth Camp On Friday March 15, 34 very excited campers aged between
10 and 14-years-old departed Logan West Community Centre
for an action packed weekend as part of the Browns Plains
Police Blue Light Camp 2019. The camp was held
at Bornhoffen Police Citizens Youth Club’s (PCYC) Leadership
Development Centre which is located at Natural Bridge in the
Gold Coast hinterland.
The kids had a memorable camp even though it started off
with complete power loss in the massive storm that passed
through. Using torches for light, the police and volunteers still
managed to cook for the kids and hold art night where they
painted Hawaii themed surfboards. Saturday was again wet
on and off but that didn’t deter the fun. The kids were
involved in ropes courses and the first ever 4 on 4 Cats Vs
Llamas soccer match which was a fantastic funny game to
watch. All up it was an excellent weekend with the kids acting
as teams and helping each other in the games and tasks they
had.
Blue Light is a police youth programme designed to encourage
better relationships between police, young people, parents
and the local community. It does this by involving young
people in supervised cultural, social and sporting activities in
an environment free from alcohol, drugs and violence. Blue
Light has developed into a crime reduction initiative, which
aims primarily to identify and address the needs of young
people who are ‘at risk’. Browns Plains Blue Light Camp
is staffed by serving police and citizens who volunteer their
time to organise and run this camp annually as a way
to inspire young people to be self-aware, to build their social
skills and to contribute positively to their community.
Colour Fun Run, Walk, Skip,
Dance for Reconciliation
A National Reconciliation Week event was held at the TYTO
precinct, Hinchinbrook on Saturday, June 1.
The event named ‘Colour fun run, walk, skip, dance’ was
aimed at bringing all members of our community together for
reconciliation.
Organised by Blue Light volunteer PLO Tracy Pryor, the day
included a Welcome to Country, Smoking Ceremony and BBQ
so that the community could come together and share a
meal. Indigenous culture was highlighted, with the main
focus being on ALL cultural groups within the community
coming together as one in a show of consolidation and mutual
respect.
Plus the day was a heap of fun! Seven different dyes were used to represent the different tribes, clans, nationalities and cultures blending together as one.
Even Mayor of Hinchinbrook Ramon Jayo and State Member
for Hinchinbrook Nick Dametto joined in on the activities.
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State Coordinator’s Report Our 35th year in Queensland has been one of further growth
and development for Queensland Blue Light. In March our
Board of Directors had a strategic planning day, to look at
where we had come from, where we were at, and the actions
needed to take Blue Light to where we see it in the future.
Blue Light Branches around the state are trying new and
different activities to engage youth, some of them you can
read about in this newsletter. Dance parties and movie nights
remain popular in remote, regional areas, and our city
Branches are coming up with bigger and better events to
keep kids engaged.
Our Blue EDGE Program continues to grow, with ever
increasing demand for programs from schools and
communities all over Queensland. Our second evaluation of
the program by KPMG is currently being worked on, we
expect that results will be as positive as the first one
completed in June 2018.
All of this is made possible through the generosity of our
financial supporters. Despite the many hundreds of hours
given by our Police and civilian volunteers each year, we still
need funding to keep the Association and our less financial
branches functioning. Many of our small or remote branches
are in low socioeconomic areas and would not be able to
continue without external assistance.
I would also like to thank the rest of the team at State Office,
for a small team we manage to achieve some pretty big
things.
On behalf of the Board and State Office Staff, I would like to
wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe an happy
holiday season.
Paul Lincoln
Sergeant 4680
State Coordinator
Queensland Blue Light Association Incorporated
Thank You To Our
Corporate Club Supporters
2019 Queensland Blue Light would like to thank the following
Corporate Club Members for their support.
The financial contributions made by our CC members allow
us to continue our work with Queensland Youth.
We acknowledge all of our supporters, however only those
listed below have approved their inclusion in this
publication.
We encourage all of our readers to support the
quality services listed.
GOLD LEVEL SUPPORTERS ARE PRINTED IN BOLD CAPS
Silver Business Supporters are printed in Black Title Case
ACCOUNTANT .
Crowley Calvert & Associates Pty Ltd Palm Beach 07 5534 5155
DENTAL SERVICES____________________________________.
Dental on Cambridge Manly 07 3348 6661
PROPERTY DEVELOPERS .
NAPIER & BLAKELEY PTY LTD BRISBANE 07 3221 8255
TYRES___ ______.
Neta Tyre Service Northgate 07 3266 7377
Queensland Blue Light Association Incorporated
PO Box 3305, Tingalpa DC, Qld, 4173
State Coordinator: Paul Lincoln
State Administrator: Jenny Monk
Project Coordinator: Grant Gamlen
Administration Officer: Kirsty Ballinger
Phone: (07) 3909 9541
Fax: (07) 3909 9533
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.bluelightqld.org
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VISION: Every young person to reach their potential and live free
of crime.
MISSION: Police, community and young people achieving positive
outcomes through early intervention.
VALUES: Respect
Inclusion
Compassion