Parkes QUE donated $4,000 to PECC. At the handover were (L-R) Colette Genet-Marks (PECC), Miriam Luyt, Michelle Jelbart, Wendy Neville, Judy Chambers, Raelene Rout, Rosemary Morris, Bev Laing, Nancye Blatch, and Jeanine Boland. Three children from PECC in front holding the cheque.
Known as Quota for many years, the Parkes Club has changed its name to “Parkes QUE Club Inc”. The QUE stands for Quality, Understanding and Empathy.
Although our name has changed, our mission is still the same. We are a not-for- profit incorporated association “empowering women and children, the deaf, hard-of-hearing, and speech impaired in our local community”.
Our club remains strong with 53 members committed to service work in the Parkes Shire. Our fundraising activities include open gardens, race-meeting catering for the Parkes Jockey Club, Melbourne Cup lunch and more.
Our annual Open Gardens event in October was a wonderful social and fundraising success, netting approximately $8,500 with most of the money donated to the Parkes Early Childhood Centre (PECC), the Peak Hill Central School and $500 to Pink Up Parkes.
PECC received $4,000 to screen speech and hearing of children. “The invaluable support from Parkes QUE Club allows us to screen approximately 180 children each year and then implement speech and language programs for children in our care,” said Colette Genet-Marks from PECC.
The Peak Hill Central School received $2,400 to cover the cost of a Red-Cat sound field hearing system. “This system allows everything said by a teacher to be delivered clearly and consistently to students,” said School Principal Darren Hamilton.
Parkes QUE also put together basic necessity packs for women and children and distributed to Centacare and several police stations in the local area for victims of domestic violence.
Creative women in our club make personal hygiene kits for a program run in East Timor, Zambia, Uganda and Nepal.
Our International Women’s Day lunch is already being organised for 8th March 2020. Find us on Facebook: Parkes QUE Club Inc or contact us at parkesqueclub@gmail.com.
By Lynn Rogers