Bendigo Community Health Services is calling for community support to create a new hub to help vulnerable and disadvantaged people build life and work skills.
Fork In The Road Bendigo will be designed with facilities and services information to show people using the space there is a road to new opportunity in their life.
Bendigo Community Health Services CEO Kim Sykes said the wonderful generosity of the Andrews Foundation had delivered use of a space beside the Central site at 165-171 Hargreaves Street for three years.
“We are determined to make the most of this fantastic opportunity from the Andrews Foundation but we will need community support to get Fork In The Road established and supporting the vulnerable, disadvantaged, lonely and homeless as we intend,” Ms Sykes said.
WHAT WE NEED: See the full list of things we need to get Fork In The Road up and running at the bottom of this post. Can you help?
“Fork In The Road needs a kitchen and coffee making area so we can provide a safe and respectful space for learning opportunities such as food handling and food preparation skills which we hope then leads to people seeing employment opportunity.
“The hub will also be home to our Thursday Soup Kitchen, a shower and laundry and provide us with an opportunity to run peer support groups in areas such as Alcohol and Other Drugs, our refugee families or youth.
“We are grateful to Federal Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters who has secured a $15,000 Stronger Communities grant for us to get this project started and now we’re looking for generous and community-minded tradespeople, community groups and businesses out there who can help us finish the task of getting Fork In the Road fitted out and ready to go.”
Federal Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters said she was proud to announce $15,000 from the Stronger Community Grant Program.
“We know that there is a growing need for services like this across Bendigo,’ Ms Chesters said.
“Many people across Central Victoria are doing it tough. Far too many people in Central Victoria are living meal to meal, kids are going to school hungry and some people cannot even look for work because they are worried about their next meal.
“Services like this are inclusive and will encourage people to seek help, get food in their tummies and find a connection to help them break the poverty they are in.
“What’s really good about this hub is that it’s in the centre of town and it’s right next to Bendigo Community Health Services, so it’s a gateway beyond just providing support for meals
“I want to congratulate Bendigo Community Health Services on this initiative, but also put the call out to our businesses and community to help complete this community hub.’’
Anyone wanting to support Bendigo Community Health Services in creating the Fork In The Road Bendigo community hub can email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 5448 1629.
What we need:
Kitchen area
Large dishwasher
Large oven with cooktop. (Must be suitable to learn on so that skills can be transferred to a commercial operation).
Main hub area
Large two door bench fridge with bay marie server top
Large two door fridge for space measuring 1900 x 700
Sets of modern tables and metal chairs
Two computers for general use.
One 55cm TV
Cold water dispenser
Coffee machine
Crockery
Utensils
Shower area
Creation of shower and change room with seat and hanging pegs.
Washing machine
Dryer
General needs
Restoration of flooring
Painting of entire space
Installation of shelving on wall inside the front door to hold services information sheets and brochures.
Plumbing work
Electrician work
Signage for front window.