Director of Hessel Children's Centre, Hana Simes and CEO of Hessel Group, Tanya Cole attended the North West Business Alliance Awards at the Semaphore Palais last night and were proudly presented with the 2022 Large Business of The Year.
We had a fantastic night celebrating with businesses from our community and look forward to meeting up again through the year.
Since opening our centre on Commercial Road, Port Adelaide at the end of 2019 Hessel Children's Centre has created a vibrant, happy and welcoming culture for our children to thrive while learning. This welcoming culture extends beyond the children to their families and our local community.
The centre embodies its philosophy of "nurturing confidence" and fostering a culture of belonging where the identity of children, their families and our educators is highly valued, respected and nurtured.
What sets Hessel apart is the dedicated, passionate staff and the warm, secure relationships which are evident in all that we do!
Now at capacity with a healthy waiting list, our team has grown to meet this demand which has added to our inclusive culture and allowed us to enhance our skills through professional development opportunities.
Many of our families are local business owners which has created a large network for our community to draw on.
We have also partnered with the local branch of Relationships Australia to provide occasional care to allow their clients to access a variety of social services to support the wider Port Adelaide community.
Hessel has also developed strong ties with other local support services including Uniting Care, Western Adelaide Homelessness, Red Cross and the Salvation Army to provide holistic and individual support to local families.
Claire Boan Mayor of City of Port Adelaide Enfield, Hana Simes Director of Hessel Children's Centre, Halie and Fabien Folghera Banksia Tree Cafe, Tegan & Riley Blight who presented the memorial Food & Hospitality Awards on behalf of their late husband and father, former Councillor Nick Blight and Kevin from Viking Yacht Club.
We collaborate with City Of Port Adelaide Enfield and promote family friendly events on the peninsula, both in our centre and across our social media platforms.
We worked with Port Adelaide Community Garden to create a small patch and they visit our centre every month to educate our children about food and sustainability.
We have run numerous parent education classes offered at no cost to our families including safe sleep and first aid. We also run a toy swap, and community pantry for families and the broader community to take what they need and leave what they can.
Our greatest achievement however, is the beautiful and diverse community we have created that extends well beyond our opening hours and has enriched the lives of children, staff, families and our Port Adelaide community.
We truly thank everyone for their support.