FOLLOWING last weekend\u2019s successful Smiles Day, organisers are already looking forward to next year.<\/p>\n
Held at Barrack Reserve on Saturday, the event was a joint venture by Heathcote Health, Heathcote Community House, Heathcote Primary Health and Bendigo Community Health Services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was our third annual Smiles Day and it keeps getting bigger and better,\u201d said Community House executive officer Vicki Forde.<\/p>\n
The theme this year was 5 Ways to Wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that social participation is the most significant difference you can make towards high levels of wellbeing,\u201d said Sebastian Goscha, Bendigo Community Health\u2019s health promotion and community engagement officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why we love this wonderful Heathcote event.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big thank you goes out to the organisations who helped put the event together as well as the sponsors and organisations who provided activities for families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Activities included face painting, a Santa photobooth, Royal Flying Doctor Service plane simulator, a free barbecue, and stalls run by community organisations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was incredibly rewarding to receive positive feedback from stallholders about engagement from the community and to see so many families with smiles on their faces,\u201d said Mr Goscha.<\/p>\n
Children helped out during the preceding weeks by submitting entries of photos, drawings and videos containing a smile, and prizes were awarded on the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so good to MC the prize giving as I got to see all the children\u2019s smiling faces as they received their prizes,\u201d said Maree Hingston.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe organisers did a great job and I thought it was very inclusive with all the different groups involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the stalls was facilitated by headspace Bendigo.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a great day and I was impressed with the engagement from all age groups,\u201d said that organisation\u2019s community engagement officer Haylee Kennedy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was able to provide information packs to many community members wanting information and resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heathcote Community House volunteer Monica Bongailis assisted with transporting prizes to the venue and said she was amazed at the turnout and support by all those who donated prizes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe the amount of donations that have come from the community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI originally came from a different part of the state and a town four times the size of Heathcote but I\u2019ve never seen anything like this before.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FOLLOWING last weekend\u2019s successful Smiles Day, organisers are already looking forward to next year. Held at Barrack Reserve on Saturday, the event was a joint venture by Heathcote Health, Heathcote Community House, Heathcote Primary Health and Bendigo Community Health Services. \u201cThis was our third annual Smiles Day and it keeps getting bigger and better,\u201d said […]<\/p>\n