DINKUM! FAIR DINKUM! FAIR Dennis

• volunteers fulfilling light gardening, cleaning, and maintenance tasks. Volunteers are the heart and soul of any community house, and we can’t thank them enough for their initiative, their commitment, and their willingness to support their community.

Fair Dinkum! Are we the lucky country or not?

In the 1960’s acclaimed author Donald Horne described Australia as the lucky country, but he did it very much tongue in cheek rather suggesting were we in fact the/a lucky country.

Well since those days, the term has been used a fair bit, particularly by politicians and media journalists.

While we do offer some of our activities at no cost, most of our activities do come with a price tag – most of them bargains. Where else would you join an exercise class for $5 per session with no membership or admin fees? Or get a scrumptious high tea with over twenty different treats for $15? This is how we make it work: We are funded by:

However, I cannot help but see that we are indeed a lucky country and never more so than in the last twelve months.

• Our program activities like exercises, arts & craft, social clubs

• IT support

• Adult education – Learn Local (Learn English, IT classes)

• Events like the High Tea or Monster Garage Sale

• Helping Hands project

0–2. Struggle Street. Don’t feel too bad. In order for people to live on Bland Street, somebody has to be worse than that and I’m sorry to say that’s you. On the other hand, if you had guessed (c) for every answer you would have gotten four correct so perhaps you were just unlucky.

• Food relief in the form of our food pantry and frozen meals

• Department of Families, Fairness and Housing – State Government

• Department of Education for Childcare – Federal Government

• Childcare – The Cubby

• Referrals

3-5. Bland Street. The majority of the population fall into this category. After all, average is both normal and safe. If you stand out from the crowd you become a tall poppy and we know what happens to them so rejoice in your ordinariness.

• Developing ideas into programs, every member of our community is welcome to participate!

Unfortunately, our staff and volunteers don’t spend all their time and energy on these services. Other tasks need to be fulfilled to keep our business running:

• Bookkeeping

• Personnel and Human Resources Management

• Professional Development

6-7. Above Average (sort of). Well done on another abnormal performance. If you were normal you would have been living on Bland Street and being called unexceptional. So, according to the Oxford dictionary, you are exceptional, irregular and deviating from type. Ask your friends if that sounds like you.

• Quality Management

• Maintenance

• Greater Shepparton City Council – Local Government

The rest of our income stems from:

• Program activities

• Compliance, Governance, Policies & Procedures

• Marketing

• Networking

• Financial management including grants & budgeting

8-9. Smarty Pants. Excellent. Congratulations! You’re smarter than 95% of the population. Whether you choose to believe statistic is up to you. Oh, you do believe it. I thought you might. However, it also means you’re not as smart as 5%. Oh, I see. You don’t believe that particular statistic.

• Project management

10. Genius. Every question correct! Go you! Lucky for you it was multiple choice because there were a couple you weren’t too sure about, weren’t there? However, you now have a month to bask in the glory by asking other people how they did on the quiz.

We currently employ 12 staff members (6 in childcare and 2 are tutors), who all work on a part-time or casual basis in management, admin, bookkeeping, tutoring or childcare. Those 11 staff only add up to 3.6 full time equivalents who keep the community house and the childcare running. How is that possible you might ask? We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without our volunteers. We currently have 20 volunteers who help and support us as:

Now that may seem strange considering that we have had a drought many have said is the worst this country has seen, we have seen terrible bushfires ravage our country and leave untold misery as a result, and now we have the Corona Virus halting life as we once knew it.

• Department of Education through Adult Learning ACFE – State Government

• Fundraisers and events

So how can we say we are a lucky country?

Well, suddenly rain began to come when least expected and that has been followed up by some wonderful sustaining rain to fill dams, create sub-soil moisture so that crops can be sown.

Even the once dead Darling River is flowing again!

And the rain has put an end to possible continuing bushfires.

Yet there is still so much misery so again, why are we a lucky country? Because we have men and women who have a spirit within them that makes us so proud of who we are.

I am talking about the SES, Rural Fire Brigades…all of those who went day through night to help keep bushfires under control and who did so with some losing their own homes, and so many putting themselves in harm’s way.

• Childcare payments by parents and childcare subsidy payments. Most of our expenses are staff costs – wages, superannuation, and provisions for long-service leave. Even though we are a not-for-profit organisation doesn’t mean that we accept running at a loss. To break even at the end of the financial year, we try to generate more income over the year organising fundraising events, applying for grants, and creating a go fund me page. We ask all community members for their understanding in that we have to charge for most of our services and activities and hope that this article is able to explain why and how those fees benefit the community. For more information on the value of neighbourhood and community houses and further reading, we recommend the very interesting study, ‘The social impact of Gippsland’s Neighbourhood Houses’ which revealed that every dollar invested into the Neighbourhood Houses of Gippsland resulted in $2,78 return in economic and social benefits. Source: https://www2. deloitte.com/au/en/pages/economics/articles/social-impact-gippslandsneighbourhood-houses.html.

I am talking about the convoy truckies who day through night and drove countless kilometres to take hay bales to farmers really struggling.

Committee members needed! If you are considering joining our hardworking committee to assist the Community House, please drop in and have a chat with either Nadine or Tom.

I am talking about the unsung, unseen heroes who went out of their way to drive to properties doing it tough with supplies of food and needed essentials.

- Tom Boocock and Nadine Pichler, Managers.

And now we have the virus and we are seeing Australians learn to turn their business into helping others.

And now we are seeing health professionals and those who work daily in our hospitals putting themselves at risk because it is their job and the same can be said for those at airports, particularly those processing incoming passengers from overseas.

We are seeing what friendship, mateship and dedication is all about on a grand scale.

Yes, we are a lucky country in the true sense.

Finally let’s all still remember those who have gone in the drought, the bushfires and this virus.

Surely remembering makes us want to ensure they are not forgotten by doing what we can to keep Australia the lucky country.