By PEACE IJIYERA
ALL the artsy and crafty people in the Latrobe Valley flocked to the 1st Morwell Scouts Hall for the inaugural Craft-De-Stash sale.
The sale was held for crafters to sell any excess bits of fabric, wool, paper, and other craft supplies they had.
On the day, about 20 stall holders sold materials from their stash, giving buyers the opportunity to live out their crafting dreams at a discounted price.
Held from 10am to 1pm, the hall was packed with buyers with more than 100 people coming through.
Scouts group leader, Matthew Ball says the Craft de Stash sale was a success.
“I think its been awesome, its been great to see so many people come through. It’s the first time we’ve tried to run one of these, we’ve got a great person, Julie Hill who’s organised it all and its been great to see so many people come through. We sort of hope to make it more of an annual event so we can do it more frequently,” he said.
Stall holders and good friends, Anna Miron and Sam Soutar have been into crafting “forever”. Through crafting, a “just for fun” hobby, they have created cards, teddy bears, cross stich and scrap books. Between the pair, they made upwards of $250.
Stall holder and fellow Scout, Corbin Walters sold bracelets, headbands, stickers and ribbons to raise money so he can attend the World Scout Jamboree in Poland next year. He says that business on the day was “good”.
The sale was also held to raise money for the 1st Morwell Scouts group. By selling morning tea and raffle tickets, the Scouts were able to raise more than $600.
Organiser and chair of the Scouts support committee, Julie Hill, says the money raised at the craft sale and future events will aid in the upgrade of the halls facilities.
“At the moment we’re raising funds to do some work on the hall. To do new bathrooms, new entrance to make it more accessible … plus we’re raising funds to get enclosed trailer for camps,” she said.
“We did the barbecue at the Moe Earth Market, and we’re doing the next one on Mother’s Day in May … we’re doing a hot cross bun fundraiser driver … we sell chocolates as well.”
Ms Hill also spoke about the benefits of Scouts in teaching kids relevant life skills.
“It’s a youth organisation. They meet at the hall each week and they do different activities, so team building, community orientation type stuff, they learn to tie knots, they go on camps and stuff so they learn a lot of outdoor skills and play games,” she added.
“It’s sort of youth-led though so it really depends on what the kids want to do, the adults just help facilitate it.”
Ms Hill was a Scout group leader and a youth member herself. Now her child, Evan Hill participates in Scouts and loves it. Evan has been in Scouts for five years and says the best part about it is “just about everything”.
“I love the night to night stuff, but I also like the really big camps [called] jamborees,” they said.
In the future Evan has plans of becoming a leader, like their mum.
“I’m very much planning on being a leader, I’m already helping with Joey’s (five to eight-year-olds) so I’m hoping to continue that.”
Scout Matthew Mclean has been part of Scouts since he was a Joey. His mum, Elizabeth Barkley says she has seen the benefits of her son being in Scouts.
“Scouts is really inclusive, they take anyone, doesn’t matter if they’ve got a disability whatever, we accept everyone … it’s good skills,” she said.
“[I’m] very proud. For a kid that couldn’t talk, [and] is now doing beautiful public speaking, it’s only through Scouts and stuff that have helped encourage skills, build up his skills … the best thing about Scouts, [is] it gives them independence but also builds up their confidence and their skill levels.”
Chairperson for Ventures unit (15 to 18), Annalyse Coley, has been part of Scouts for seven years. She loves the community aspect of the group.
“Everyone’s really close and feels like family no matter where you are in the world,” she said.
“Like I could meet someone on a camp and the next camp that’s like four years away, I will see them again and we instantly click and it’s like we haven’t been separated.”
Ms Coley wants to see more girls join Scouts and change people’s perceptions on the group.
“In our venture unit we have more girls than boys … considering how back in the day it was more boys, and girls had to fight to get into Scouts. It’s really good seeing how many girls are getting into it.”
Throughout the day, the Scouts were put to work and helped out with the raffle draw and morning tea.
Mr Ball said it was amazing to see the Scouts interact with the community.
“Some of them have never sort of really got to experience these things since COVID, they sort of missed that window, and now they’re sort of coming in and starting to learn things and how to talk to people,” he said.
“So it’s been really exciting to see a lot of the kids sort of grow and sort of learn how to communicate with each other.”
Mr Ball’s message to the community is to not forget about the Scouts.
“We are out here, we still run Scouts, Scouts is still about … come try it out, it’s free to try for the first three nights, if you don’t like it that’s okay, if you do, great.”
