CREATE is delighted that our new Townsville Office is now open, and we couldn’t be happier to have a new hub in North Queensland to provide local services to the community. Thank you to the Queensland Government for funding our new office, and providing children and young people with a care experience with access to better and brighter futures.
On Thursday 8 February, we held an official launch whereby we could introduce CREATE to the local Townsville community and begin our important work for children and young people in care. For anyone who was not there, Youth Facilitator Jayden has filled us in with all the details of this awesome event.
Jayden’s launch wrap up
It was an afternoon filled with powerful performances, heartfelt speeches and traditional dance. It started off with Aunty Virginia welcoming to country, followed by our own Jacqui Reed talking about CREATE. Then the Wulgurukaba Walkabouts with Uncle Ashley came out and shared with us some beautiful traditional dances telling a story in each one.
To start off the speeches, CREATE CEO Jacqui Reed talked about the hard work that had gone into making a CREATE office in Townsville happen. We then heard from Dimitra Fotinos, the Acting Regional Director for North Queensland for the Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women. She spoke about how critical it is for CREATE and the department to work together in helping change the care system.
To top it off, we heard a beautiful cover of the song “Riptide”, a performance on ukulele and singing by young person Danielle – she has been playing for only 12 months! Also we were lucky enough to have our own Townsville Young Consultant Michael come up to share his story with everyone. To finish the afternoon of speeches, we had everyone write down on cardboard what their hopes were for the youth of Townsville; CREATE will have the hopes for youth on our wall to read every day.
We then all headed out to play some touch football with the Mendi Blackhawks. The belly bumpers were out and bouncing in their purple glory. The tug of rope was being ferociously pulled by many; as sounds of laughter came from Churches of Christ’s famous UFO games.
So thank you from the Townsville team for everyone’s help to make this office in Townsville happen.
Get in Touch
If you’re in Townsville or North Queensland, we would love to hear from you. Give us a ring on 1800 655 105 to find out about upcoming events in North Queensland.
