vvfact.org.au

The Vietnam Veterans’ Federation ACT Inc (VVF) was formed in 1994 with a handful of Veterans meeting at the Ainslie Football Club each Tuesday. After some years the ACT Government kindly offered a lease on a house in Ainslie.

The VVF leased the premises at 3 Burkitt Street Page on 1 July 2004. The Lease term was 3 + 2 and the rent was set at $6550 PA. Membership has grown over the years and as at June 2006 we have some 450 members.

The VVF is an incorporated entity, GST Exempt, a deductible gift recipient and an income tax exempt charitable institution.

Since taking up the lease the VVF has improved and upgraded the premises significantly.

Improvements

1. Electrical Wiring. The entire complex has been re-wired. Three phase power has been connected to the workshops. All this work has been carried out by the son of one of our members at no cost.
2. Telephone & Computer Wiring. Each activity centre (workshops, offices, computer centre, kitchen etc) has had telephone and computer wiring installed.
3. Admin Block.  This building originally contained an office, crib room and storage areas with lino flooring throughout. It has been refurbished and now has a reception area, 4 offices, and a filing room and carpeted throughout.
4. Large Shed.  This L shaped building was originally one large concrete floored workshop. It has been insulated, lined, partitioned and had a ceiling installed. It now contains a Wood-work and Metal-Work Workshop, a Kitchen and a conference room. The floor in the kitchen is a faux wood and the conference room has been carpeted.
5. Small Shed.  Originally a double garage with a double wooden door. It has been insulated, lined had a ceiling installed and has been carpeted. It is now used as a computer training centre.
6. Lighting.  All the original lighting has been replaced and additional quality lighting has been installed.
7. New Structures. With the approval of Urban Services we have erected a storage shed at the end of the large shed. We have also erected a computer storage area and workshop attached to the small shed.
8. Gardens. The Landscape Gardeners Association very kindly donated their time, labour and materials to provide a beautiful garden at the rear of the premises. We have named it the “Garden of Peace” and it provides a calm and soothing environment for our members to relax and try to let the stress of daily living with a disability fade away.
9. Drains. Urban Services provided box drains to replace the spoon drain. One of our volunteers is a licensed plumber. He and his volunteer laborers dug the spoon drain out and installed the box drain.
   

Costings

We have expended some $38,000 on materials and paid labour (phone and computer wiring). We have no way of costing the unpaid labour performed by our volunteers. We have estimated that over 3,000 hours have been put in by our members.
       

Mission Statement

Our motto is “From Warfare to Welfare”. Our aim is to look after the welfare of our veteran members. To this end we offer the following services to all veterans and all ex service people, from all conflicts, regardless of whether they are members of the VVF:

• Assistance to lodge claims with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA). We have 8 Pension Officers doing this work;
• Representation at the Veterans’ Review Board when a veteran appeals against a decision by DVA. We have two advocates for these appeals;
• Representation at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. We have a retired Barrister to represent us;
• A gardening service for the frail aged veterans or war widows. Five volunteers on this task;
• A team who visit all the hospitals and the hospice in the ACT and Queanbeyan. We have some sixteen volunteers on this task;
• A walk for health program. This attracts about ten to twelve members each Tuesday;
• A golfing group who play at the Duntroon golf club each Monday. On average around twelve members participate;
• A food van that is used for fund raising (recent activities were at Skyfire and the Ulysses Motor cycle club meeting). About twenty members involved as volunteers;
• A male choir that has sung at eight engagements since forming in September 2005. Eight active participants;
• A cooking group that has started its first course, in partnership with Diabetes ACT, to teach healthy lifestyle cooking. The target group is veterans who have lost their partners as well as any members interested in improving their cooking skills to include a healthy eating regime;
• A computer training centre, to bring older members into the digital world. Two instructors who have run two courses to date;
• A Wood Workshop. Six instructors and to date some fourteen active participants; and
• A Metal Workshop with two instructors and four students so far.

 

Membership

Despite our name we offer membership to veterans from all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.

Partnerships and Alliances

We have forged an alliance with the ACT Woodcraft Guild, the Lion’s Club of Belconnen, the ACT Government’s Department of Education and the Department of Aging and Multicultural Affairs. We are also in partnership with Diabetes ACT and are looking to a partnership with a rail modeling and engineering group

The Future

We are running out of room to conduct any new activities. Our volunteers have prepared plans for expansion within our existing rented property. We are also developing a submission to the ACT Government to have the lease transferred to us to ensure security of tenure. The recent controversy surrounding the sale of the caravan park at Symonston has caused us to rethink our proposal.

Conclusion

We have created a vibrant and exciting centre for the benefit of all veterans. Our focus is to maintain the level of commitment but to do this we need to keep our funding level up to cover the administrative support necessary to conduct the full range of programs.

James Wain
President
VVF ACT Inc
13 June 2006

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 12th, 2006 at 7:00 pm and is filed under VVFACT, VVFACT Activities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.