Nominations are now open for community volunteers with a passion for their local region to join the Regional Development Australia (RDA) network in South Australia.

The Australian Government RDA initiative is a national network of 55 committees made up of local leaders who work with all levels of government, business and community groups to support the development of their regions.  RDA committee members are local people developing local solutions to local issues. They build partnerships to develop strategies and deliver sustainable infrastructure and services to their regions.

Guest post from Chloe Reschke-Maguire

The concept of a day of trampolining would appeal to any child at heart the world over. However, due to OH&S laws, a room full of trampolines and people still remains the impossible dream. In the meantime, Trampoline is an event that goes a long way towards satiating your desires to explore the world from a different perspective.

The following new listings have been added to SAcommunity:

 The Mental Illness Fellowship South Australia (MIFSA) Education Awareness and Training Team, EAT, provides information and training to assist in a range of areas. These include:

Guest blog from Lia Griffiths, Communications Officer, Marketing & Communications, Silver Chain

RDNS SA has been providing leading health care and education services to South Australians since 1894. Over nearly 120 years, and despite two World Wars and the Great Depression, RDNS SA has gone from strength to strength since the first nurse commenced her round in Bowden.

Unley Gardeners Plant Rescue is a dedicated group of gardeners who have been together since February 2003.

 Guest blog from Stephanie Papps, Respite Coordinator, Mental Illness Fellowship of South Australia

MIFSA is a membership and community based not for profit organization and is now the largest specialist mental health non government organisation in South Australia. MIFSA Respite Programs assist carers to take a break from their caring role, improve the relationship with the person they care for, and help carers and their families to maintain their caring role.

Services are flexible and involve tailored support options thatare developed in collaboration with the carer and care recipient. Support options include:

While you are getting into the swing of the new year, here are some awareness and community events to look forward to in February

Four Fact-Filled Fridays

Presented by Volunteering SA&NT. Meet and connect with other volunteer managers and update your skills. Different topics each Friday in February.

New community services and activities are constantly emerging around South Australia, resulting from the efforts of people who want to help others, address problems and make our community healthier and stronger. Here are some new listings that have been added to SAcommunity recently:

Edithburgh Community Church - providing church services as well as community services including an internet kiosk with tutors to help new users; weekly craft sessions for embroidery, knitting and sewing; recreation and leisure activities for aged people and people with disabilities; low impact exercise classes

2013 has just begun - but let's look back for a few minutes at 2012. This was a big year for SAcommunity because we topped 1 million annual visits to the website. It was good to see that our information is reaching many people and allowing them to find the help they need or become actively involved in community life.

We ran our annual survey in December 2012 to find out more about who is using SAcommunity, what they are looking for and what is the resulting impact. Over 700 people responded. Here's a brief summary of what we found: