Get an insight into our Westport community!
Our team is what makes us! At The Westport Club we pride ourselves on being a reliable, progressive, safe, and unified group of people that are passionate about living our vision. We collectively aim to make a significant contribution to the quality of our community life, by nurturing and supporting our local community relationships. Our team is full of incredibly talented people that allow us to create moments of greatness everyday – this week we wanted to shine the spotlight on one of these amazing people that make up our team, Jenny Edmunds (Community & Sports Manager)!
Jenny began her journey with us back in 2007 as our Marketing & Community Coordinator. Fresh from relocating from Armidale, Jenny jumped at the challenge of being part of a ‘new’ leadership team at The Westport Club following the 2006 amalgamation with our parent club, Mingara. With this change our club was largely shifting towards a centralised community focus and Jenny was very excited and passionate about bringing this message to our local area!
Bringing the fun back!
During her time as Marketing & Community Manager Jenny loved bringing the fun back into how we showed up in the community. Fun giveaways like frisbees and beach balls, exciting events like our much-loved Christmas Under the Stars and Fireworks Spectacular, and a focus on giving back to local clubs and organisations are all ways Jen pioneered a new image for The Westport Club. If you are one of our lucky members to have ever won some cash or a brand-new car from our Car & Cash promo – you can thank Jenny for giving this promotion life!
A large part of the role Jenny had was aiming to connect our team to our projects. This was something not previously done but allowed us to really drive our local presence and live our collective vision to make a significant contribution to the quality of community life. Our team created (and still does now!), a strong link to our community, allowing us to remain active participants in local clubs, groups and initiatives that mean the most to our personal interests!
Education has always been a passion of Jenny’s and at the front of our community projects. Providing equality for education of our young people and to support the best opportunities possible! One of Jenny’s greatest projects delivered was the Library Regeneration community initiative, delivering books to local schools across the Hastings region. This much-loved program in partnership with Dymocks has been ongoing for 11+ years and has created so many important opportunities for local kids. Another drop of $60,000 in books is about to bring hours of happy reading to nearly 1000 children across 10 Port Macquarie preschools this month again!
A change in role!
As our Club grew so did Jenny’s role, eventually splitting to become two separate roles and identities. With her love of community and drive to make an impact locally, Jenny chose to pursue community full time as Community & Sport Manager. This allowed The Westport Club to undertake more local projects and have a dedicated community engagement person active in our local area. Working closely with the local Club GRANTS committee and our uniting vision meant more funding was able to be spent locally on programs that mattered to our people now!
Many people in our community know Jenny, have met Jenny, or have worked with Jenny on their own programs, projects, or sponsorships. Growing her network throughout her time in the role meant she was able to create a pool of resources and was able to find ways to support others through these connections with likeminded people that are driven to help! A huge number of local partnerships and relationships were created through growing this network and connecting with community leaders, meeting with a range of people from local schools, councillors, and other groups.
Connecting with local networks
Connecting people with the resources to support their vision has been one of Jenny’s greatest achievements. Aligning those in need with a person or group that can help is one of her most valued resources. With a wide network of contacts, Jenny has been able to connect likeminded people and make projects and support possible that simply would not have happened otherwise. Often Jenny has said the most important part of her job is maintaining these local relationships! Staying true to who we are, and our focus has allowed us to continue staying true to living our vision.
As we reflect on the remarkable journey Jenny has been through during her time with us at The Westport Club, there is truly so much greatness that she has brought us and our local community. She said that it has “been an absolute joy”, to sum up her experience – but for all those that have had the pleasure to have worked alongside Jenny would know that it is our joy to have been able to have her continued support, kindness, and passion for living our vision over these years. Thank you, Jenny!
Interested in joining us as our next Community Engagement Manager?
Creating memorable moments and making a significant contribution to the quality of community life is what we do here at The Westport Club!
When you think of life being great, it’s hard not to think of being part of a great community who values sharing time in the company of family and friends. Creating memorable experiences for our community is what we do here at The Westport Club. Our vision is “to make a significant contribution to the quality of community life” and this is truly the heart of what we do! A rewarding career opportunity exists with us that delivers on our vision and directly contributes to wellbeing of our community. We’re looking for our next Community Engagement Manager, who is passionate about making Life Great in Port Macquarie.
Apply Now for this exciting role as Community Engagement Manager.
Want to read more? Check out our other community Blogs to see what life is like as a Community Engagement Manager;