Celebrating Neighbourhood House Week

WARRANDYTE Neighbourhood House is celebrated the start of Neighbourhood House Week 2022 with an exciting, free Community Morning Tea on Monday, May 9 at 11am and the whole community is invited.
Neighbourhood House Week, happening May 9–15 is a national initiative, which celebrates the role of over 1,000 neighbourhood houses in local communities across Australia.
Warrandyte Neighbourhood House is one of 400 in Victoria.

“We are super excited to be bringing our community together to celebrate what makes Warrandyte Neighbourhood House such a special place for so many locals,” Manager Lana Bedford said.
“It’s been a tough time with the COVID-19 pandemic, but we are proud of everything we have done to make it a little easier for our community.
During lockdown the organisation launched a food relief program in partnership with CareNet and made welfare calls to our vulnerable participants who live alone, just to have a chat and make sure they were doing ok.
It was so important to us that no one felt completely isolated during such a difficult time.”

Lana said the morning tea would include a number of guest speakers including Hanh Tranh, from local Warrandyte business PoppySmack.
Hanh will share her stories and culture and will also demonstrate how to make delicious rice paper rolls.
Beautiful Zeus, the Diary’s very own Canine Correspondent, had also agreed to make a special appearance.
His owner Don will share how Zeus became a Service Dog.
Morning tea will be provided.
Nicole Battle, President of the national peak body Australian Neighbourhood Houses and Centres Association, said this year’s Neighbourhood House Week theme was about re-emerging and rebuilding a harmonious and resilient community after the lockdowns that saw so many Australians isolated.
Ms Battle said:

“I am so proud to lead such a resilient, responsive and adaptive sector, made up of so many selfless and hardworking individuals.
Neighbourhood and community houses and centres have truly demonstrated their weight in gold over the past two and a half years.
While so many other services closed during the lockdowns, Victorian neighbourhood houses stepped up.
Around 96 per cent of neighbourhood houses continued to deliver in varying capacities, and 60 per cent ran food relief programs, responding to a significant rise in demand.
Other services our houses provided included childcare, remote adult education, home deliveries, wellbeing calls, letterbox drops, online social gatherings, technology support and device hire.
Neighbourhood houses also played a valuable role during the rollout of the vaccine program, creating awareness and combating vaccine hesitancy.
Some even hosted pop-up vaccination sites at their premises to make the vaccine more accessible to vulnerable community members.
This Neighbourhood House Week we acknowledge this incredible effort and the staff, volunteers and community members who made it all happen.
However, now as we begin to re-emerge, we are looking to rebuild those strong social connections that many people lost, building a stronger, more resilient community than ever before.” 

Visit https://www.nhvic.org.au/nhw to find Neighbourhood House Week events near you.

Events in Nillumbik during Neighbourhood House Week

Diamond Creek

Thursday 12 May: 1-3pm: Launch of weekly drop in cuppa and games – FREE
Friday 13 May: 1pm: Restoration of “Welcome” mosaic + afternoon tea – FREE

Eltham

Tuesday 10 May and Thursday 12 May: 3.30-4pm: Cupcake decorating workshops for children – FREE
Wednesday 11 May: 10-11.30am: Macramé workshop – FREE
Wednesday 11 May: 3-3.30pm: Shared afternoon tea. Bring a plate and make new friends – FREE

Panton Hill

Tuesday 10 May: 11.30am-12.30pm: Build a clay cup/plate/bowl and enjoy lunch – FREE
Wednesday 11 May: 10am-2pm: Create a wellbeing garden and enjoy lunch and afternoon tea – FREE
Thursday 12 May: 9.30am-10.30am: Active Movers exercise class – FREE