It's just a building!

I'm taking a break from kitchen sinks and simple living today so I can tell you about what's been occupying my time this past week, and on and off for the past year.  I work as the volunteer coordinator at our local Neighbourhood Centre, and with the help of a grant from our State government, we've just moved into a brand new building.  I often get emails asking me about the kind of work I do as a volunteer, so this is the ideal opportunity to answer those queries.

This is the front of the building, my office is the lower horizontal window behind that first bit of wood panel.

Our Centre is unfunded and operates with the help of about 30 volunteer workers, fund-raising, public donations and occasional government grants.  We have a  *Flexischool that currently has 20 students and three government funded teachers, and we rent space to a family support worker and a community development worker, both of whom we work closely with.

The building is as green as we could make it using the funds we had.  We have four water tanks that are plumbed to the toilets and garden hoses, solar hot water and cross ventilation.  Next year I'm applying for a grant that, I hope, will allow us to install solar panels for the electricity the building uses. 

Our mission is to work with the poor and disadvantaged but we support and assist anyone who walks through our door and asks for help. We offer a range of services, such as emergency food assistance, free counselling, free legal service, free workshops on various things like frugal and simple living, budgeting, nutrition and making healthy meals on a budget - we do this in conjunction with our local University. We have a community bus that we rent out and Hanno drives to take our seniors on shopping trips and outings.  Now we have more space we'll be starting playgroup for young mums with babies and toddlers, we have a sewing circle and teach knitting and I'm working on putting together some cooking from scratch classes.  We had a Permaculture garden at our last home and we'll be starting a new one in this new place too.  Apart from teaching people the principles of Permaculture, it's a wonderful addition to our emergency food program because we invite those people to whom we give a couple of bags of groceries to pick fresh food to take home as well.  At our new home we have a grand site for vegetables and fruit and I see a time in the future when we encourage our Flexischool students to go outside and pick fresh bananas and oranges and whatever else we grow there.  Hmmm, let me think now, what else do we do?  We have a youth program, parenting workshops and first aid for babies, and next month we're presenting the new CRP course with the local ambulance.  I supervise community service orders for teenagers and we hope the community Youth Justice program will be located at our Centre again.  This is an alternative to a court appearance for youth who have not offended before.  We offer domestic violence counselling and family relationships counselling in conjunction with other organisations who send their workers to us.  We auspice new groups and help them establish themselves under our banner and insurance, and when they're strong enough, they work independently.  And we give space to small groups were they can set up a desk and have a public presence in our town.  We also do the catering at the Bunya Dreaming Festival which is the local aboriginal festival (on tomorrow), Santa's Helpers - gifts and Christmas hampers for the poor and our annual Christmas breakfast in the park.

We do other things but I think you get the general idea.

This is the office that I share with our book keeper.  It's still in a shambles, I put up my computer after this photo was taken and I'll sort out my desk and shelves this morning, I promise.

So this past week we moved into our new home.  I worked closely with the architects and builders during the planning and construction and we have exactly the building we were hoping for.  No, that's not quite right, it's better than I ever imagined or hoped for.  I've been working in my current job for four years now and during that time we operated from old houses and there has been a feeling that we struggle along and do the best we can with what we have. But this new building, even though it's just a building, shows our community and the people with whom we work, that the poor and disadvantaged are valued and they are not hidden away or second best.

The entrance to the neighbourhood centre, the side path alongside the building leads to the Flexischool at the back.

You know, I walked the corridors in an empty building yesterday afternoon, locking up, and making our little home secure for the night and I could not help but think of the worthwhile and important work that will be done in all those rooms.  It's been a long time coming, we've been going for 16 years, but now we are in the position to offer first class service to our clients in a state of the art facility. We can teach simple and frugal living skills and offer the support and encouragement that many people need.  I never thought I'd ever be proud of a building - it's JUST a building!, but I do feel it.  I feel proud of our new Centre, I am honoured to work there and I look forward to many days when I drive down the mountain again towards home feeling that the hours in my day have been hours well spent.

* Flexischool is a small school for students who, for whatever reason, do not fit well within the government school system.

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