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General News

11 January, 2024

Art project a hit with residents

Havilah Hostel residents have been hard at work these past few weeks, decorating rocks as part of a new initiative aimed at keeping residents engaged and connected with the community. The initiative is part of the popular social media scavenger hunt...

By Riley Upton

Havilah’s residents have been very busy of late, donning aprons and paintbrushes to decorate rocks as part of a new program centred around creativity and engagement. The rocks form part of the VicRocks initiative and will be placed around town for children to find and enjoy. The smile on resident Betty Bishop’s face shows just how much fun the residents have had. Photo: 120124 03
Havilah’s residents have been very busy of late, donning aprons and paintbrushes to decorate rocks as part of a new program centred around creativity and engagement. The rocks form part of the VicRocks initiative and will be placed around town for children to find and enjoy. The smile on resident Betty Bishop’s face shows just how much fun the residents have had. Photo: 120124 03

Havilah Hostel residents have been hard at work these past few weeks, decorating rocks as part of a new initiative aimed at keeping residents engaged and connected with the community.

The initiative is part of the popular social media scavenger hunt VicRocks which sees people colourfully decorate rocks and hide them in public locations for people to find, with the aged care organisation hopeful of bringing this trend to Maryborough.

The idea of Havilah’s lifestyle assistant Aimee Curran, the project is expected to have the dual benefit of keeping residents engaged creatively and also getting community members out and about searching for the colourful rocks.

She said that when the residents were asked if they were interested in taking part in the initiative, there was an excited response.

“Whenever the residents hear we are doing something for the kids in the community, their eyes just light up,” she said.

“A lot of activities like these were stopped during COVID and now we’re coming back, we’re eager to hit the ground running with activities for the residents.

“They have really gotten on board with this and it has been great for their creative thinking and hand-eye coordination.

“Art is really good for everyone, particularly older people and this project lets them get in and focus on something, relax a bit, get creative and work with their mind and their hands — it’s fantastic.”

Havilah’s rocks have all been decorated with environmentally friendly paint, with the words Havilah and VicRocks painted on them so they’re easy to recognise.

Making the first delivery of these special rocks to Lake Victoria this week, Ms Curran said she’s hopeful residents will share their finds with the aged care service’s residents.

“The idea is that once people find one of our rocks, if they can take a photo of it and send it to our Facebook page we can show our residents,” she said.

“If somebody wants to take the rock home or move it somewhere else, we’re happy for people to do that — it would be fantastic if some of these rocks could make it interstate and all over the place.

“The residents have been really eager to take part in this and are really excited to see who finds their rocks.”

VicRocks was first conceived in 2017 by the Moongala Women’s Community House and has now grown to have a Facebook community group consisting of over 40,000 members.

Ms Curran said the aged care service’s participation in the VicRocks initiative is just getting started, with more locations earmarked for rock deliveries over the coming months.

“It will be something the residents will do a few times a month now with it slowing during the winter months,” she said.

“We hope that a lot of people get involved and I can’t wait to see the smiles on residents' faces when we get photos of people finding the rocks.”

To find out more about VicRocks, future locations, or to post pictures of spotted rocks go to the VicRocks or Havilah Facebook pages.

You can purchase photos on our photo purchase page. Use the reference code:
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