Registered charity · ABN 90 346 006 002 · Neighbourhood House, Gippsland
New · Digital skills
AI for work, digital arts, editing, social media, websites, web apps and hosting — taught so people can publish, apply, and earn. This is the newest work of the House, and it sits alongside lunch, the garden and the workshop.
Food & company
A hot meal and a table to sit at remain two of the most useful things a country town can offer. Our community lunch is open to everyone. It is priced so that money is not the reason someone stays home, and it is run so that the elderly and people living alone have a standing invitation — not a one-off event.
Food relief
Pay It Forward is how Gormandale looks after its own when the week has run out before the pay does. It sits alongside emergency food relief: practical, local, and designed so people can take what they need with their dignity intact. Donations of non-perishable food, garden produce and funds keep the shelves turning over.
Food relief
Emergency relief is for the week that does not wait. We provide food aid as part of a neighbourhood house, not a warehouse. If you need it, come in during opening hours or phone the House. If you can give, the same door takes donations.
Growing
The garden is a working plot, not a showpiece. Raised beds, shared tools, and the slow work of improving the soil and the facilities around the House. Produce finds its way to the kitchen, to community lunch, and into food relief. Anyone in the district can join a session — no prior green thumb required.
Making
The art program is for people who have not held a brush since school as much as it is for people who already do. Sessions are social on purpose: making things is one of the reliable ways a small town talks to itself. Digital arts — image editing, layout, and publishing your work online — now sit alongside the paper and paint.
Making
The woodworking program is a community facility first — a shed where skills are shared rather than performed. It is the analogue cousin of our digital workshops: both are about making something you can use, gift, or sell. Safety briefings are part of turning up, not an extra.
Food & company
Vegetarian cooking at the House is practical Gippsland food: what the garden is giving, what is cheap that week, and how to turn it into meals that people will actually eat. It feeds the lunch program and sends people home with a method, not a recipe card they will lose.
Learning
Library outreach is how we keep reading local. A nook in the House, help getting into the public library system, and a reminder that information — including the online kind — should not depend on who owns a good laptop. It is a natural partner to our digital skills work.
Town life
Fundraising and friend-raising happen in the same afternoon. Free community events — from produce stalls to seasonal lunches — are how people who would never enrol in a program still become part of the House. They also keep the kitchen, garden and hall in working order.
