Mary’s Staff Update
It’s hard to believe this is the final update of the year with Christmas looming fast! The last few weeks have been either super busy or a little quieter – no steady pace in the workshop!
We have been applying reflective stickers to road signs for Fulton Hogan and putting together bags of metal components for Modular.
Another job that keeps everyone busy is sorting and filling nuts, bolts and washer packs into tool-like compartment boxes for Mainland Fasteners.
OJI send in several pallets at a time, filled with boxes that need restacking – this job gives all the young guys a good workout!
Aucom cage clampskeep a number of our clients busy and ProKiwi and Every Educaid always send in a variety of interesting jobs.
KM Business Equipment have toner cartridges that Kevin cleans on a regular basis – he needs to do a good clean-up of his area when he is finished, including himself!
We have printing firms that also bring work in for us – Inkwise, Caxton, Rainbow Print and Blue Print keep us busy with plenty of different jobs, such as putting large magazines into bags, labelling, making up Christmas card packs and assembling buntings.
Jacob has been running a new AJ’s job – cleaning Te Whatu Ora’s fleet of cars every Thursday and Friday morning. Kevin and Harley B are the regular cleaners with Nick F and Sam T filling-in when needed – they all do a great job.
Thank you to all these businesses for your continued support. Many of you have supplied us with work for numerous years and it is much appreciated.
The clients have been busy enjoying all the different community activities on offer and I often hear them, and the staff, chatting to each other and tell us about the fun they have had or what they have seen or eaten. Biddy always looks forward to playing T-Ball on a Thursday afternoon, when it is her turn, and has great delight in telling me when she arrives, that she will only be working with me in the candle room until lunch time! Alecia has an outing every second Wednesday with Julia-Grace and Lyric – the girls take turns choosing an activity to do, and they have certainly done a variety of things including many café visits, making friendship bracelets, Timezone, tie-dyeing t-shirts and bowling.
From the candle room, I have noticed some great improvement of the clients who have taken on the FOCUS exercise programmes. I hear them walking or running up and down the stairs, counting catches with a ball and boxing with much enthusiasm. I see them run from one end of the car park to the other several times, going out for walks and doing exercises using the bollards outside. When I hear the loud ‘kihups’ coming from those doing Taekwondo with Julia-Grace, I like to pop my head out the door and let them know how impressed I am. I enjoy the laughing when they are competing against each other when they use the blazepods or the frustration as they try and land a table tennis ball into a cup by bouncing it against the wall. We also have the gym boys who like to flex their muscles to show how ‘ripped’ they are!
The Candlemaker @ AJs has had a busy year. All the school leaver candles have been done and picked up or posted out and now the shelves are getting restocked. We continue to have our lovely regular customers come in and re-order and we have met some wonderful new customers that say they are going to return, with some already coming back a couple of times.
I work alongside some terrific people in the candle room…
Sarah A joins me on a drive to the bank on a Monday morning to pick up the clients pay. We often bump into her Mum and Dad who are getting their morning coffees and have a quick chat – Sarah doesn’t like to hang around as she has a job to do! She has been doing the Client Pays for a long time now and has the job done and dusted in no time!
Alecia always comes into the candle room on a Wednesday with a big smile on her face. She enjoys a chat about her week before getting to work cleaning moulds or cutting wicks and bubble wrap to size. It’s also the day she enjoys helping Jacob pick up the McDonalds order and once a fortnight heads out on her outing with Julia-Grace and Lyric.
Biddy enjoys her Thursday with us – she has been very busy with her performance shows over the last month – she is a talented young lady who loves to dance and has no problem getting in front of the camera.
We have enjoyed the company of Acacia over the last few months – she comes into the candle room on Thursday mornings and is happy to take on any task. She is only with us until the end of the year as she is returning to Melbourne to live. All the best Acacia and thank you for your work.
Biddy and Acacia took charge of setting up the Christmas candles in the candle room this year – they enjoyed sticking on the tinsel and choosing which candles they wanted on the shelves. I think they did an awesome job – well done girls! Don’t forget to pop in if you need any Christmas candles – we still have a few in stock.
Kevin is our main candle pourer in the candle room, and he does a great job. He is also responsible for cutting the bases of the candles with the skill-saw, so they lie flat – he always starts with putting on his protective gear then proceeds with caution. Kevin’s days in the candle room have changed recently, since he took up the opportunity to clean cars, so he now joins us on a Tuesday and Friday. Kevin loves the banter between himself and us ladies and gives as good as he gets! He went to the Cup Day Races this year and although he had a great day out, it wasn’t a profitable one!
We still have the extra table in the candle room that was used when we had to ‘spread out’ during the Covid period. The girls who came in during that time, wanted to stay when we returned to normal, so now we have Annie, Sharon, Michelle and Laureen who love to come in and do a job from the workroom…along with enjoying a chat and singalong to the songs we know on The Breeze as we work.
I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and hope you set aside some time to relax, as we all need to recharge! Take care and see you in 2024.
