The Big Give is an event supporting central Victorian community groups. The Bendigo Advertiser profiled several of the registered campaigns each week until the initiative ended with a 24-hour giving day on September 1. 

“Our loo just won’t do,” The Old Church on the Hill committee members have decreed. 

The venue hosts a range of community activities, but lacks a toilet with disabled access. 

Founder and manager Rose Vincent said people who needed the facilities had been unable to attend events.

“What’s the point if we can’t have everybody able to access?” she said.

So the Old Church on the Hill has launched a Big Give campaign aimed at raising $10,000 to help improve the loos. 

A new toilet block is planned for the next stage of developments at the site.

Construction of a new kitchen is underway. 

Ms Vincent said the new toilet block would include a shower, a toilet with wheelchair access, and two unisex toilets. 

“We are going to put them into the end of one of the existing buildings,” she said. 

“Once the toilets are moved, we’ll be able to put a cafe window out of our community kitchen and a door out to the community garden.”

She was hopeful the community would be just as supportive of the new toilet block as they had been the kitchen works, for which about $75,000 was contributed.

About $25,000 was raised by Spring Fairs, the next of which will be from 10am until 3pm on October 15.

All proceeds will go towards the new toilet block, Ms Vincent said. 

The committee also intends to apply for grants, which have also helped fund the new kitchen.

“I think the Old Church on the Hill is a very loved place for many people,” Ms Vincent said. 

It’s the setting for a kitchen garden and sustainability learning space, a children’s playgroup, seniors’ activities, youth groups, craft and writing workshops, mindfulness sessions, seniors activities and community singing, among things. 

Although the building was constructed in the 1900s, the Old Church on the Hill as we know it today was founded in 2013. 

The concept grew “organically” from the community garden, Ms Vincent said. 

“We didn’t have a model or an idea of what it was going to end up like,” she said. 

The community garden led to a range of other community activities and programs.

One of the Old Church on the Hill’s newest community projects is a food hub, aimed at supporting local producers and increasing accessibility and affordability of quality food.

The Big Give is an online community fundraiser ending on September 1 with a Big Giving Day.

About 70 campaigns will compete for a share in a $31,000 prize pool.

To donate to the Old Church on the Hill’s Big Give campaign, click here.