Category: Blog

Welcome to September and Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads, stepdads, guardians and grandparents we have as members. This is a great moment to reflect on the hard work our dads put in.
Thank you to everyone who popped into Grill’d in July and put a token into our jar. We came runner up and were awarded $100. Another big thank you to all of our members who donated baked goods for our stall at Bunnings on Thursday night. Also to our
members who ran the stall! This is a great start to fundraising for our financial year.
It’s an exciting time for many of our members with acceptance letters going out for kindergarten and school. I hope you all got your preferences and are excited for the next step in your families lives.
Our save the date for Christmas has been announced. Make sure you pop this one in your calendar, it’s an event not to be missed!
Kind Regards, Carmen

I hope you are all enjoying the lovely weather we’ve had lately. This term, I’ve been taking my twins to the Wildlife Wanderers program at Gumbuya World. As much as we have enjoyed playgroups over the past 5 years, we’ve stepped away for a moment to enjoy the animals and these last few months before they head off to school.
The Committee has teamed up to begin the planning of all of our upcoming events. July is always a quiet month for CDMBA after the new Committee comes together, but everything is kicking off again in August with our midweek catch up and Father’s Day event. We have also started the talk around our Christmas Event at the end of the year. This one always takes a
few months to plan! If you would like to be involved in the Christmas subcommittee, please reach out. We always love to have new faces helping out behind the scenes and on the day.
At the end of the month, we will be hosting a baked goods stall at Bunnings Cranbourne for the Father’s Day Night Markets. If you have something you love to bake, please consider taking the time to donate these goods to the club. We’re hoping for another successful year of fundraising for the club so we can offer the most to our members.
Kind Regards, Carmen

Welcome to July, the second half of the year and my first Presidents report!
The 2023/24 committee has now had it’s first monthly meeting and the yearly planning meeting. Everyone is settling in well and we had some great ideas at the planning meeting and have a full calendar of events for the year.
Last week we had our Trivia Night. We had a great turnout with 6 tables competing. Congratulations to ‘Joey Trivianni’s Titanic Swim Team’ for taking out the winning prize. A huge thank you to Candice for organising this one alongside me. With the income of ticket sales and fundraising from the sale of grazing boxes, a raffle and silent auction, the cost of the entire night was offset with a final profit amount of $287.65. This will go towards keeping playgroups at no cost to members.
We started the school holidays with a TASC event hosted by Catherine. The kids had so much fun making lava lamps, slime and instant snow at the Science workshop. If you’re looking for activity ideas, check Small Ideas. Always a great bargain available with a huge category of indoor activities for these rainy days. If you don’t have a membership,
use the link in this newsletter to sign up!
Saturday playgroup has their first session in Officer this month. Thanks to Jess for working so hard on securing this venue for us and opening up the Cardinia shire for future events.
Thanks,
Carmen

Casey and District Multiple Birth Association Inc. social calendar for May started the month off with the Saturday playgroup. If you haven’t joined us for one yet, then come on down on the first Saturday of the month. It is a great way to spend a Saturday morning.
CDMBA spoilt the mums of multiples with a night out at Paint a Pot and dinner afterwards. It was an absolutely lovely evening filled with delicious sparkling drinks, painting, laughter and good company. Thank you to Coco for managing this fun night out.
We also managed to squeeze in a Bunnings BBQ this month and what an amazing fundraiser this turned out to be. We managed to raise $1816, and this was partly due to the $478 in donations we received. Thank you to those that volunteered, sourced donations and stopped by to support the club. We appreciate each and every one of you.
CDMBA had the Annual General Meeting on the 24th of May. I would like to thank all committee members for being part of the 22/23 committee. It is volunteers such as yourself that make CDMBA possible. We had many committee members put their names down to stay on committee and we are also privileged to have some new faces join the committee.
There were 4 motions on the agenda. Two noteworthy motions were namely the fee increase which will come into effect as of 01/06/2023. The fees will change to $45.00 per member family per annum and are inclusive of insurance premiums. As it has been mentioned before this is due to AMBA increasing their affiliation fees.
The next motion was the introduction of a new membership for School aged multiples. This membership will be available to members at their next renewal date once their youngest multiples turn 5 years of age.
As I have stepped down as President of CDMBA this year, I would like to thank so many people. Over the years there have been a few amazing people that have given me guidance and advice when I was unclear on what the best way forward was. I am so grateful to have so many people all in my corner. The executive team has been a great support structure and we truly have worked so well together. I am grateful knowing I had this team that had my back. So thank you so much to Carmen, Metta and Kirra. Next a huge thank you to the committee members that have assisted in running CDMBA. Teamwork really does make the dream work. Having a great team has meant that tasks and responsibilities were divided among the committee and this led to some really great outcomes. Having an effective committee meant that outputs such as events and support services were available and enjoyable for all, we had a larger pool of resources and ideas which promoted growth and learning and has created such strong bonds amongst the committee.
Lastly I want to thank the members of CDMBA. Being part of CDMBA has fostered a sense of belonging. When I moved to Australia 20 weeks pregnant with twins, I knew no one, but CDMBA has embraced me and helped me create my tribe. There are members over the years that have had a major impact on myself and my family and I thank you for these life experiences.
Many thanks
Candice

Each May is bittersweet for me. Our committee is tying up loose ends, finalising projects and getting ready in some cases to leave roles or even committee. This creates a whole heap of emotions. However, this also means we have new faces, new ideas and renewed commitment to support CDMBA members. CDMBA is 100% volunteer run by member parents. Without volunteers we would struggle to provide many vital services to members. I would like to say a huge thank you on behalf of CDMBA and myself to all our wonderful committee members. Thank you for all the time and effort spent making events special, engaging in discussions during meetings and supporting the members.
If you would like to join the committee, please attend the AGM on the 24th of May at 7:30pm (details to follow in next few days). Lastly, remember to check out the events calendar on Facebook as well as the newsletter for all events that are upcoming.

Sincerely,
Candice

Multiple Birth Awareness week MBAW, is such an important week in the multiple birth community. It is a way for our community to truly showcase our passion for improving the lives of all multiple birth families. Whether that is through educating others, supporting families or advocating for change. We kicked off MBAW 2023 with a picnic at Ross Reserve. There are photos of the day in the newsletter so please check them out. CDMBA ended the week with a Vision Portrait Photo Fundraiser. Our event produced so many gorgeous family photos and we raised $420 that will be going towards the Mother’s Day event. Funds raised go back into the CDMBA community, which is used for events, support and sometimes for families that require a little extra support through our extreme needs fund.
Mark your calendars with the following upcoming events, flyers in newsletter:
-Annual Easter Event
-Mother’s Day
-Trivia Night
Lastly the CDMBA AGM will be on 24th of May. I read this beautiful quote “Volunteerism is the voice of the people put into action. These actions shape and mould the present into a future of which we can all be proud.”. I truly believe that joining the committee is a great way to be part of the voice that drives CDMBA. We are a group of parents who support not only the members but each other and it is so lovely to work alongside these people. Interpersonal communication, time management, delegation, communication, leadership and problem-solving are a few transferable skills that you can develop through your volunteer work. Many previous committee members have used these skills and time spent on committee to help with careers. Please consider joining the CDMBA committee!
Best regards
Candice

Welcome to 2023!
I hope you all had a relaxing and rewarding holiday period celebrating with good food, company and memories to last a lifetime.
I’ve had a nice mini break from club duties (other than necessities) and am feeling refreshed and ready for this new year. I hope the rest of the committee feel the same. Our Annual General Meeting is in May. We will begin circulating role descriptions for anyone who is interested in volunteering on committee.
Now that the holidays have come to an end, we can get back to playgroup. Term 1 of playgroup is free for all members. First up we have Young Bubs on Thursday 2nd February. Thanks to Emma who will be facilitating with her triplets. If you have babies from newborns to walking, I highly recommend joining this one. On Friday 3rd we’re back at Manna Gum Family & Community Centre for our all-age playgroup. This term will be facilitated by Christine. Thank you so much for volunteering your time. We will be returning to Wednesdays at Chisholm on the 15th. I will be facilitating for this term so I look forward to seeing everyone there!
We had a great time at our first event of 2023 which was indoor rollerblading at Kemizo Entertainment. This was the first TASC (terrific activities for school children) we have hosted since 2017. I hope we can organise more activities like this throughout the year. We have lots of events and dates announced so be sure to save the dates. Here are the first few months
worth.
-Picnic at the Park
-Multiple Birth Awareness Week
-Vision Portraits Fundraiser
-Annual Easter Event

If you have curious little ones who love helping, be sure to check out our KiddiKutter knife fundraiser. We are selling them from our TidyHQ shop for $18 each.
Regards,
Carmen
CDMBA Vice President, Minutes Secretary and Webmaster

As the year comes to an end and I reflect on our year, I am truly grateful for all that CDMBA has been able to achieve this year.
We endeavour to support so many families in the multiples community. Our support coordinator, Shoba Willer, and her team, manage to ensure every new member gets support from our CDMBA community through welcome meals and online support. A large portion of our support services are only possible because of various grants we receive throughout the year. We are so lucky to have the opportunities to apply for grants. Our committee members put a substantial amount of work into ensuring we are successful for a large portion of the grants we apply for. This year we have been lucky enough to receive the following grants:
-City of Casey Community Grant
-City of Casey Training and Equipment Grant
-Victoria Department of Education Children’s week grant
-Inger Rice Grant (received in 2021 however most of funds were spent in 2022)
Some of the funds from these grants also go into funding the CDMBA playgroups. The playgroup coordinator, Jess, commits so much hard work into ensuring we have a playgroup for nearly every member’s needs. We currently run the following playgroups:
-Young Bubs every 2nd Thursday
-Wednesday Playgroup
-Friday open playgroup
-First Saturday of the month Saturday Playgroup
Another major avenue to help Casey and District Multiple Birth Association Inc. support the members is by doing fundraisers throughout the year. We had two big fundraisers in the last month. These were the Clyde Bunnings BBQ where we raised a whopping $1350 and then the Let’s Unwine Fundraiser we raised $350. Thank you to everyone who volunteered at Bunnings or stopped in to support us. Also thank you to Shoba for spearheading the wine fundraiser and to the members who purchased wine. We have the Bumblebee market this coming weekend, 4th of December, so please either drop off some baked goodies for the volunteers to sell or pop into Berwick Fields Primary School between 9am-12pm to say hello and buy something delicious to take home. We also recently launched the Kiddikutter knives fundraiser, these child safe knives spark a love for cooking in your little ones and helping parents prepare meals.
Recently I was lucky enough to attend the AMBA National Convention in Sydney with the Vice President, Carmen. The convention was such a great resource for all things multiple birth and club related. We learnt so much from the various information sessions we attended, and it was a great network opportunity to learn more about what other clubs do in regard to events, fundraising, support services etc. We hope to provide the members with some valuable information from convention in the next coming weeks.
Lastly, a major draw card for many members is the social events we host throughout the year. Coming out of covid and not being able to socialise in person for so many months really impacted many people. CDMBA hosted so many praiseworthy events this year, to name a few:
-Multiple Birth Awareness Week
-Easter Egg Hunt
-Mother’s and Father’s Day
-Multiple coffee catch ups at parks around City of Casey and Cardinia Shire.
We finished off the year with a wonderfully cheerful Christmas event. We had more than half our membership base attend on the day which is definitely the largest event of the year. After all the stress about what the Melbourne weather would do that day and whether Santa would be able to visit from the North Pole so close to Christmas and whether we had accounted for everything; the day turned out to be lovely, with our community coming together, being jolly and merry and enjoying each other’s company. A huge thank you needs to go out to the team that conceptualised and executed the Annual Christmas party. Congratulations on a truly successful event with tons of positive feedback. See pictures of the day in the newsletter.
Lastly, I want to say to the committee, thank you so much for all the voluntary work you do. Please know that we could not do this without everyone’s hard work. We are forever thankful for the time you have given CDMBA. You each have made an unforgettable difference to CDMBA and to our members. Behind every successfully organized event, playgroup, membership support service, social media post, newsletter and fundraiser, there is an extraordinary volunteer team. Thank you for a job well done. A very special thank you to Hilary for always proofreading everything for the club rain, hail or shine.
To the members of CDMBA, thank you for continuing to support our endeavours and staying part of the CDMBA tribe. We have such an amazing community of parents, and we are grateful for this.
Holiday Greetings! Sending you joy and goodwill to carry through the holidays and into the bright new year.

CDMBA finished off October with the Department of Education and Training Children’s week 2022. Children’s Week celebrates the talents, skills and achievements of children, and their right to connect with others and respectfully share their views. This year’s theme is ‘Children have the right to a standard of living that supports their wellbeing and healthy development’. To celebrate Children’s Week, we hosted free events for children and their families to engage the senses, capture the imagination, and encourage creative expression. Our event was one of over 140 free Children’s Week events supported by the Victorian Department of Education and Training. Thank you to Hey Dee Ho, The Base Yoga and Addicted 2 Dance for helping the children pick up new skills and help develop new interests. Thank you to Jess Hartfield for planning all these events this week.
The CDMBA Halloween Disco party was a spooktacular event filled with fun music, delicious treats and a collection of fairies, skeletons, superheroes and other creatures of the night. Thank you to Kirra, Chiranout and Devon for a fun day out. The year seems to have flown by; I can’t believe it is already November. In the AMBA calendar this month is really important information for the continued success of the AMBA organisation, as it is the 2022 National Convention. This will be the first in person convention in a number of years, and it is such a great opportunity to be able to attend this event. Convention is a great place to network with other clubs, as well as attend informational sessions that are specifically for the multiples community. This is where the AMBA AGM occurs and the board members who run AMBA are elected. Carmen Tulau, Vice President/Webmaster, and myself will be attending from CDMBA and we hope to bring back some valuable information worth sharing with the committee and our members.
Moving onto the CDMBA events calendar. Firstly, we have a fundraiser that is new to the club, and we are eager to see the outcome of this partnership with Let’s Unwine in Berwick. It runs from the 1st to the 21st of November. There are more details on Facebook and in the newsletter about this. The Casey and District Multiple Birth Association Inc. committee meeting is the second Wednesday of each month and, as always, members are welcome to attend. Next, we rescheduled the Chaos to Calm Tantrum Toolbox talk for the 15th of November at 7:30pm. This talk will be hosted online and is relevant to parents with children aged 2-12 years of age. On the 20th of November is the Bunnings BBQ and we require volunteers to help on the day. If you are able to help please put your name on the volunteer roster. This is one of our biggest fundraising opportunities of the year. Fundraisers like these are incredibly important for the running of events. With our biggest event of the year coming up at the end of November, we want to ensure the absolute best time for attendees and that requires us to raise money. This event is obviously our Annual Christmas party on the 27th of November. This is such a festive fun day out and we have some really awesome activities planned this year. Please make sure you RSVP to this event, as every attending member child within your family will receive an age-appropriate gift. Thank you to all the committee members that plan our events and put so much effort into making events enjoyable.

This has been a brilliant month of events for CDMBA. We kicked off the month with a fun activity filled Father’s Day event. Thank you to the hosts Shoba and Devon for planning this event. Next we had a very successful Bumblebee Market where we fundraised $451.90. Thank you to all the members that donated baked goodies and to Catherine and Devon for running the stall. The Coffee Catch up was a beautiful weather day with oodles of families in attendance. Thank you Fran for running the catch up. I really take so much joy from seeing members socialising and kids having a blast at CDMBA events. This is the core of Casey and District Multiple Birth Association Inc. October will also be jam packed with events. Namely, Saturday playgroup on the 1st of October and from then will be the first Saturday of each month. This is a new playgroup that we are offering to members. The funds raised at the Bumblebee Market will cover the costs of venue hire and occasional refreshments and activities. This means Saturday playgroup will be complimentary for all members to attend. Our weekly playgroups will be back after school holidays. Then the 20th of October will be the dietitian lead talk about food nutrition in children. This is an in person information session that will be discussing good food habits, fussy eaters and starting solids. We end the month with Children’s week when we will have multiple activities available at playgroup and on Saturday 1st October. Then October ends with the Halloween Disco. All events mentioned above have flyers in the newsletter. Please join us for events, playgroups and information sessions and meet other members of Casey and District Multiple Birth Association Inc. Come have a chat, play and learn something with other parents who know what life with multiples is really like.