Have yourself a Merry Christmas!

Christmas time at ACARES

On 6^th December ACARES hosted it’s annual Client and Carer Christmas party at the West Beach Bathers Pavilion. The event was treated to a beautiful Melbourne summer day – clear skies and sunshine with Port Phillip Bay providing a very fitting back drop.

The Christmas party provided the perfect setting to demonstrate the inclusive and client focused approach that has guided ACARES philosophy to date. The party was attended by clients and carers from metropolitan Melbourne, Geelong and Echuca. This was facilitated on the day by our dynamic MC’s Owen (client) and Drew (carer) who work together on a weekly basis – unfortunately for Drew he was the receiver of some unscripted banter from Owen! The humour, insight and focus displayed during their sets displayed  a perfect example of how our staff work to enable and empower clients to achieve their goals. 

The afternoon sound track was provided by Puja (carer) and Paddy playing guitar (carer) with vocal accompaniments from Jacqi (client), Rodney (client), Ricky (client), and Michael (client) where they performed a selection of classic and contemporary songs. Lucky for them, ACARES runs a weekly music group at our Southern Palms house so they were able to get in some rehearsal time before the big day! Ultimately all guests were able to share in the musical experience – dancing, singing, and laughing throughout the afternoon. It appears as though performing at the party does leads to bigger things as Paddy’s band – Masco Sound System, have just been added to The Falls Festival line up.

We were able to document and capture the fun / excitement / creativity of the day through a photo booth that was facilitated by photographer Lauren (carer) and Meredith (client). The photo booth had a superhero theme where carers and clients were able to don superhero masks. The superhero theme was selected for the day as more often our carer’s are every day heroes for many of our clients, assisting during times of need.

Overall the 2017 Client and Carer Christmas party was a fantastic success and we can only imagine what next year will have in store for everyone apart of the ACARES family.

Want to be part of the action in 2018? Join our expanding team of Support Workers or become one of our valued clients.