A petition has been circulating throughout the Mount Alexander Shire with the hope of generating enough support to keep the copy centre open.

Group member Glenn Braybrook said the petition would be presented to Federal Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters in July and used to lobby the federal government to help. 

“We just hope there will be a really good outcome – we’re not going to lie down and just take it,” he said.

“Somebody should step in and fix this immediately.”

The Windarring run copy centre is one of three providing employment to people with disabilities, with the two others located in Gisborne and Kyneton. 

The organisation announced in May it would close the Castlemaine and Gisborne centres in December, citing financial viability as the reason.

Windarring chief executive officer Chris O'Connor said in May the business had been struggling financially for a number of years and it was a very difficult but necessary decision to make.

The introduction of the NDIS and accompanying changes to funding for disability services also played a part in the decision.

Mr O’Connor said last week Windarring was continuing to work with all involved to see what their future desires were.

“We’re working to try to create new opportunities,” he said.

The two copy centres employ 10 people with disabilities, along with three support workers.

Mr O’Connor said the organisation was looking into other social enterprise ideas, with the hope of not only being able to redeploy all employees impacted, but also to be able to provide new employment opportunities.

Mr Braybrook, who is also a volunteer at Windarring, said he did not blame the organisation for the decision to close the centres.

But he said it would be a shameful day if no solution could be found to keep the “Castlemaine icon” open.

“We’re trying desperately to put some sort of business model forward that will make it viable,” he said.

So far, the group is investigating the possibility of combining other programs with the copy centre.

“I know that a lot of people are losing jobs but this team has been together a really long time and do a really good job,” he said.

“This is more than just a place where people go to work. We just want it out there that we want to survive, we want it to continue.”