The big event last month, and a very successful one, was our Career Connections Showcase. After 12 months of data collection and analysis using the Australian Social Values Bank, we can prove we benefit the care economy and veteran social ecosystem by $500k per quarter. We are also gathering some Great Stories for anecdotal evidence of the benefit of a Veteran Community Hub. Coming up this month is our 2nd Anniversary Open Day promising to be bigger and better with a surprise in store. Operation NAVIGATOR Trial also kicks off this month. Work we did with Black Dog Institute has been launched and is a great resource for Primary Health Networks with a significant veteran community. We have now sealed a deal with Defence Health to sponsor Hut 5. Look out for the ANVAM Persona Exhibition coming to Homebase in October.

Our first Career Connections Showcase was way more successful than we expected. We weren’t sure of how to make everyone comfortable and support what essentially amounted to speed-dating interviews, but it worked like a charm. We got great feedback from the veterans attending and a few good tips to improve. But to have 30 businesses from our Veterans Business Alliance and over 20 veterans, many serving and our local Queensland Government reps, was amazing. We hope to do this at least three times a year.

The DVA grant for evaluation of our service some 12 months ago has paid off. We have been collecting data for 12 months, and at the end of FY2022-23, we have a conservative estimate that we will save the care economy and veteran social ecosystem $500k per quarter, utilising the services of the Australian Social Values Bank. The work funded by DVA that bought in Zed Management Consulting has proven the value of our homebase for the veteran community and spurred Team Oasis to work harder to support the veteran community in Townsville. And the ESO community is pulling together very well as they each have characteristics that suit specific veterans and their families that we have been able to call upon and direct veterans to. The best part is that after we have sorted out our clients' (more and more of them are currently serving veterans) issues, most of them have included The Oasis Townsville, and special members of our Team, into their support network. The Oasis Townsville is becoming a Homebase for the Veteran Community in Townsville and increasingly further afield.

In addition to the dollar data, we are gathering some amazing stories of how we have impacted veterans and their families' lives. Worth checking out on our website.

The next big event is our 2nd Anniversary Open Day on 12 August. This will be the best one yet as we adapt to meet the needs and feedback provided by the Townsville Veteran Community. We’ll kick off at 1000h and wrap up at 1300h at Homebase. In the past years, we’ve had up to 3000 attendees, and there is something here for all members of the veteran family and those without a family. Homebase is a place where all members of the Veteran Community feel safe and respected, and this will be a great celebration.

We have also begun a trial for Operation NAVIGATOR to ensure we are as close to the mark on the content required for the pilot that will begin in Jan 2024. Every soldier, sailor and aviator arriving in Townsville on their first posting will enjoy a day at The Oasis Townsville Homebase to better appreciate how to make the most of their life in the ADF and how that fits with the rest of their life. We seek a wide range of participants to help with the trial task.

We’ve worked closely with the Black Dog Institute to produce an outstanding resource for Australia’s Primary Health Networks keen to support their respective Veteran Communities. Stemming from Operation COMPASS, which The Oasis Townsville keeps as the foundation of our operations, it has been rewarding to assist BDI in producing a toolkit best suited to supporting the Veteran Community.

And lastly, in the months ahead, we will have a ceremony celebrating the support of Defence Health by announcing and unveiling their support on Hut 5 at Homebase. And in October, we have ANVAM with its Persona Exhibition. It is a commemorative project raising awareness of Australian contemporary veteran artists' cultural and creative engagements. On display from 9 to 27 October with Launch on 10th. This will be amazing, given the success many veterans have experienced through their art.