![Long Gully Neighbourhood Centre coordinator Kerry Parry with volunteers Linda Morton, Karin Haevecker and Tamika Aggenbach. Picture by Noni Hyett Long Gully Neighbourhood Centre coordinator Kerry Parry with volunteers Linda Morton, Karin Haevecker and Tamika Aggenbach. Picture by Noni Hyett](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/189568677/091a0be7-a56d-4a1a-8bf0-fc96f1d21bef.jpg/r0_0_5568_3712_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
This week is Neighbourhood House Week, recognising the community connection provided by volunteers across the region.
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In Greater Bendigo, there are six neighbourhood houses - Kangaroo Flat, Eaglehawk, Strathdale, Marong, Heathcote and Long Gully.
They provide free and low-cost activities, food pantries, community gardens, playgroups and support for essential services such as Centrelink and the Power Saving Bonus.
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Coordinator of Long Gully Neighbourhood Centre Kerry Parry said the theme of this year's Neighbourhood House Week was locals connecting locals.
She said anyone who walked through the doors of the community centre, either to volunteer or access services was treated the same.
"When I started here in 2020, we had about six volunteers, we now have over 30 volunteers because people capture the passion and the vision and that sense of connection and belonging," Ms Perry said.
"Bendigo's the middle of the gold mining town, so there's a lot of gold, but it's also buried in a lot of muck at times.
"People, sometimes there's a lot of muck in their lives, and that's all we see. For me here at the neighborhood centre with our team of amazing volunteers and staff, the idea is that we get rid of some of the muck and reveal the gold within people."
Ms Perry said her team of volunteers had crocheted love hearts with the tag "you are valued".
"There's way more fear and anxiety in our world now to what there was pre-COVID," she said.
"If we can just help encourage people to recognise that they have a place, everybody has a place, come and play with us."
This week, the centre would celebrate Neighbourhood House Week with a special morning tea tomorrow as well as the announcement of the winner of this year's Good Neighbour Competition.
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Neighbourhood Houses were funded by the state government's Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.
Ms Parry said they received enough funding to employ between 20 to 35 hours a week, "barely enough to employ a part-time coordinator".
"We apply for grants all over the place, and we rely very heavily on community to support community," she said.
The centre employs a community garden facilitator for 13 hours a week through the City of Greater Bendigo's large grants, but that staff member would be lost if the grant wasn't successful one year.
A community development worker has also been hired for 12 hours a week.
Ms Parry said Neighbourhood Houses were limited to what they could do, and ever-reliant on volunteers.
"You can't expect [volunteers] to always be available in the same way that someone that you can employ," she said.
"And a number of our volunteers have gone north for winter, so a bit of a mass exodus happening over these next few months."
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Nationals member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland said neighbourhood houses provided "invaluable support" and urged the state government to continue their funding in this month's budget.
"Operating at the grassroots, our Neighbourhood Houses understand what is relevant, and are best placed to support and respond to the needs of locals," she said.
"Any cut to their funding in the upcoming state budget will hurt those individuals who can least afford it.
"The Andrews Government must guarantee full funding to all neighbourhood house's across our region to ensure locals can receive support when they need it."
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