Bairnsdale Neighbourhood House

Our guest speaker this week was Leanne Jennings, who is the CEO of the Bairnsdale Neighbourhood House, located in Dalmahoy Street, Bairnsdale. Their mission is building strong thriving communities rather than just surviving.

Leanne outlined a number of the programs that are held at the Neighbourhood House such as, Drama Group, Card & Scrapbooking, A Community café which runs on Tuesday & Thursday at lunchtime and, Dinner on Fridays from Toy Library, Mothers Group to cover just a few of the offerings. The Mothers’ Group is a fairly recent initiative that is having a very valuable effect on the lives of a variety of local mums who do not necessarily enjoy ‘inter-generational’ support … and Leeane suggested the importance of this group will continue to grow in size and value to our community.

They are also involved in redistribution of Food, which is used in their Café , a free food trolley and also share amongst the Local and other communities so nothing goes to waste. Excess food, particularly fresh vegetables from local producers and processors is often passed on to similar agencies elsewhere in the state.

They also provide a free service to people to help with their Tax Returns and financial advice.

Leanne has a great team of volunteers to work tirelessly to run Bairnsdale Neighbourhood House and in doing so provide a most valuable support for our local community.

The Bairnsdale Neighbourhood House has supported the community by taking on programs and community ventures that would have been a lost service to our community,  such as the Indigenous Kinder which ran for several years at the Neighbour House until it outgrew their facilities and GEGAC managed to gain funding for the now new building  in which it operates. The site also features a very productive garden which not only supplements the food program but also provides a valuable learning and skill development opportunity. Projects such as these reflect what the Bairnsdale Neighbourhood House is all about.

Well Done!!

If there is any out there in the community that has some free time and administrative skills (including financial) please think of the Bairnsdale Neighbourhood House.