We are a small Neighbourhood House which provides support, information and educational opportunities for individuals and families in the Wodonga area. We aim to address social injustices and cater for diverse and minority groups, by maintaining and establishing new links with community social agencies and networks, and assisting with community problems in an informal, familiar and supportive setting.
We are uniquely situated in Emerald Avenue, West Wodonga, sharing modern training rooms and kitchen with the Emmanuel Anglican & Uniting Church. We are close to schools, and work closely with social aid agencies, Churches of all denominations, the Wodonga Council and various health and environmental networks.
In October 2009 we developed a program of social outreach called “Our Table to Yours” where we grow our own fresh vegetables and herbs in a small community garden attached to our premises, harvest the produce and then prepare nutritious meals for freezing into portions, ready for distribution to those experiencing hardship through ill health, economic circumstance, grief or other trauma.
In 2011 our volunteers produced in excess of 6500 meal packs and we increased our garden beds from 4 to 8 in order to cater for a growing need for organically grown fresh local produce.We have also developed a teaching arm to the original program, called “Our Garden to Yours”, which aims to educate the community on water efficiency, and teach the art of propagating heirloom varieties of vegetables, so that we reduce our carbon footprint and the food miles wasted by purchasing food outside our local growing area. We secured a government grant from Sustainability Victoria which enabled us to install 2 huge rain water tanks (50,000 litres capacity per tank), arrange for a propagating house, and develop the curriculum for weekend Workshops on heirloom plantings, waterwise organic gardening and cooking garden produce into fresh meals.
