By Dominique Tassell
The Stanthorpe community has got behind a campaign to spread kindness in the community, declaring it ‘rocks’.
The GBSS Rocks initiative, where painted rocks are planted throughout the community, has seen massive support from the community and has almost 300 members in the Facebook group.
Anna Finlay from Granite Belt Support Services says the initiative was brought forward by one of their support workers who saw it implemented somewhere else.
She says GBSS is a social and community outings group.
“Because we are disability support based, we’re very community based.”
Anna says they aim to increase inclusion for people with disabilities.
With GBSS Rocks, they wanted to show that “people with disabilities can really create great things” and also wanted to create a family activity for anyone in the community to get involved in.
“We wanted to create an activity that encouraged families to do things together,” Anna says.
The initiative also has the benefit of encouraging people to get outside and be active.
The rocks have been planted throughout Stanthorpe, and people who find them are encouraged to hide them again.
After finding them, some people have taken them with them when travelling them and planted them there.
GBSS has strict rules around where the rocks can be and what can be used to decorate them, as they don’t want to cause any damage.
Rocks cannot be hidden where a mower might find them, and the rocks are fully sealed and never bedazzled so they can’t harm wildlife.
The initiative is ongoing, with no plans to stop given the community support. Right now, it is just in Stanthorpe.
Anna says they plan to hold a couple of community days, such as having a morning in the school holidays where families can come along and go on a sort of treasure hunt to find the rocks.
GBSS is also currently doing the 1 foot forward walk challenge with Black Dog Institute.
Fifteen staff members are walking as far as they can in the month of October.
You can follow along with them throughout October on the Granite Belt Support Services Facebook page.
You can also join in and spread the joy by joining the group ‘GBSS ROCKS’ on Facebook.
