Bellingen Chamber of Commerce

Letter from Lisa Siegel of Bellingen EYE (Bellingen Environmental Youth Experience)

Dear EYE supporters, mentors, friends, and parents,

I hope your year has gotten off to a peaceful and positive start. Our EYE year certainly has, with 35 remarkable youth attending our Leadership Camp at the end of January. Six of our graduating/senior EYEers helped plan and run the camp, and it was truly inspiring to work with them to carry off this major team effort. Everyone has returned to town with many plans and much enthusiasm, so there is no doubt in my mind that this will be another fantastic year.

Of course, EYE could not happen without the encouragement of the many wonderful adults in our community. Thank you to the many of you who supported EYE last year in a myriad of ways – driving to meetings and camps, helping out at events, mentoring, and attending Advisory Group meetings.

People are constantly asking “how can we help?” so this year, we thought we would put a bit more structure in place for adults to be part of EYE.

Bellingen EYE Advisory Group

First of all, we would like to run the Advisory Group (aka the AdvEYEsory Group!) in a more organised fashion. Last year, this informal group played a very important role. It was made up of interested adults plus members of the EYE Leadership Group. The group has met four times since we received our funding in December 2008, and has been extremely helpful in discussing and deciding on issues of employment, policy, mentoring, and long term planning.

This year, we are hoping that the Advisory Group continues on with this important role, but in a slightly more formal way. We would like to find six committed adults who can attend four meetings during the year, and also be available for electronic communication should matters arise between meetings. The meetings will be held quarterly from 5:30 – 7:00 at the Bellingen Environment Centre. Specifically, the meeting dates are:

Monday, February 22

Monday, May 17

Monday, August 16

Monday, November 15

Would you like to be part of the Advisory Group? Please contact me right away!

Bellingen EYE Mentors Pool

The creativity and passion of Bellingen EYE members is a blessing and a challenge! They have so many ideas that we could be doing EYE projects day and night if we had the resources. What we are looking for is a pool of adults who would be willing to work with smaller groups of EYE members on projects or events – to give the guidance and help necessary to carry the project through from start to finish. Project ideas range from murals to workshops to major campaigns, so we need mentors with all sorts of skills, passions, and availability. While this would be volunteer work on your part, we do have a budget for activities so that you would be covered for all expenses (materials, petrol, phone, etc.)

Would you like to be a Bellingen EYE Mentor? Write to me and let me know what skills/passions you would like to share.

I look forward to hearing from many of you soon. Please contact me via return email or on 0423 362 844 if you have any questions or would like to discuss anything. Also, please do pass this message on to any adults who you think may be interested.

All the best,

Lisa Siegel

Bellingen EYE Coordinator

0423 362 844

www.bellingeneye.com.au