Did you know we have a Toy Library at ACC? It has been around since the 1980s … so for lots of adults who grew up in the neighbourhood, it is how they first came to know us.

We have 400+ toys in this amazing community resource and after A LOT of work by Kalimna (she has worked on this tirelessly for hours on end) we now have it fully online.

We’d like to thank the Inner North Community Foundation for supporting this transition as part of their Covid recovery community investment commitment.

We’ve been taking baby steps for a bit trialling the system … and now we’re thinking we might be ready to run (or at least walk right across the room) …

So … Join up! Join up!

It cost $45 per year and you can borrow 4 toys at a time.

Then you can return them in two weeks, or renew your loan. And when you are ready reserve 4 more.

Note, bookings need to be made before 10am on Tuesday. This is when our long-standing friend Sarah comes in to fill the orders.

Families can then collect their toys between 1pm-4pm that afternoon (Tuesday) here at ACC.

And … if you have a sleeping bub in the car let us know (call the office on 9499 7227 if you can’t wave us down through the window) and if we can we’ll bring the toys out to you (our very own neighbourhoodly version of click and collect).

Toys in our library include baby play toys, games, trikes and bikes, puzzles, musical instruments, construction kits and loads of imaginative play items. And there are some super vintage items along the way (that have survived from back when it all began).

Check it out here.

Also … if something is a bit glitchy in our system please let us know … we’re definitely teething at the minute!

Also, also … if you are already a member contact us - Kalimna has already set you up in the system … and we’ll make sure your payments take into account the period we were out of action (note Kalimna is in Tuesday and Thursday).

Here are the photos as promised from our recent Yarra Neighbourhood House Network volunteer lunch.

Thanks to everyone who came along. We hope you had a great day!

Our garden has been spruced up by a delivery of compost. And we’d like to thank the volunteers who moved it into place, spreading it out across our site. And thank Darebin Council for the delivery. This year again we are receiving the FOGO compost - which is the compost made from our green waste bins … so … it’s entirely possible that your carrot peelings and cauliflower leaves (if you put them in your green waste bin) are now right here in the garden at ACC! Isn’t that a nice thought.

We’re about to (well in the next month we hope) plant more indigenous plants 🌱 out in our front corner garden that has been looking a little sad … we will give them the chance to settle in over winter and be ready to burst into life in spring! Fingers crossed.

If you are keen on gardening we have a lovely group of garden enthusiasts here on a Friday morning from 10am who help weed, rake leaves, save seeds, plant out beds, thin seedlings … and all the things. And anyone is very welcome to come along and help us improve our outdoor spaces, help grow community food and meet nice people! We’ll reward you with a delicious morning tea at 11.30am (catered by our CWA friends) to thank you for your contribution!

Last week Kalimna and I headed off to Silverwater Resort at San Remo for the annual Neighbourhood Houses Victoria (NHVic) Conference. NHVic is our peak body.

There are 400+ neighbourhood houses in Victoria, and of those, 25% have had new Executive Officers come on board in the last 3 years - so it was not just a chance to catch up with old friends (the last conference was pre-Covid times) but also an opportunity to talk to people new to the sector. Including Jen - who many of you will remember! She started our Women in the Shed program and has recently been appointed to run Garfield Neighbourhood House in Cardinia Shire - it was lovely to see her.

And we got lots of great ideas. Costa Georgiadis from Gardening Australia kicked things off with a talk all about how he goes about pitching gardening … making the stories engaging and entertaining. It was a great reminder. Jacinta Parsons from ABC radio was the keynote speaker at the dinner and talked about her chronic illness and how important community support is. And in between we heard from the new ACNC commissioner, got an update on the progress of the First Peoples Assembly in Victoria from Reuben Berg (amazing that we already have a fully operational Voice structure here in Victoria, that is well on the way to working toward the practical implementation of Truth and Treaty and we haven’t really heard much about it) and also talked and heard about community gardens, social enterprises, volunteering … and got inspired about all the things that we do day to day in neighbourhood houses.

It was a fabulous learning experience for both of us.

Hi Leanne here. We’ve had a busy couple of weeks with lots of new things happening at ACC.

Last week our Women in the Shed and AAA Bowls programs started up for the term. It was lovely to welcome new faces and people who have been along before. Women in the Shed is full but we always welcome people to AAA Bowls - if you know anyone who might be keen! It is a wonderful program that is led by Jill and supported by a team of generous volunteers from Alphington Bowls Club.

On Wednesday last week we started up our Podcasting 101 course. And there is still 1 spot available - we can catch you up - it is not too late. We have Declan Fay teaching the course. He has an amazing wealth of knowledge in this field, having worked extensively in comedy and radio and on a variety of podcasts including writing the narrative podcast Crossbread and he is a fabulous teacher and story teller. If you are interested you can book in here.

Our community mornings on Fridays are going great - we have a regular crew of gardeners working with Clare to keep our grounds shipshape and productive - and we have had an influx of crafters this month from GenU - it has been wonderful to connect up our organisations more and also to meet some lovely and enthusiastic new knitters, crocheters and stitchers. In the afternoons our AAA Arts group is growing and evolving with Clare leading the way and Hazel and Corrado volunteering weekly.

Speaking of which, our partnership with CWA Alphington has been super - we had sausage rolls and chocolate chip biscuits for morning tea last week - delicious!

In addition to this we have a new Men’s Support Group running on Monday evenings in the Shed and Yoyo in building up her Violin classes. She is currently studying at VCA and is just lovely if you think violin is your thing! If you are interested in either of these please don’t hesitate to email us info@alphington.org.au.

Over the last two weekends we’ve also run two workshops - Recycled Timber Design and PIllow Talk. We trust everyone that attended had a great time and walked away with new skills and knowledge. It is fabulous when local community members come along and share their skills and talents with the community!

We’re also busy working with the Yarra Neighbourhood Houses and Yarra Council on a Climate Change Resilience Plan - similiar to the one we did with Darebin a few years ago. Connecting our community, responding quickly to need, making sure the most vulnerable are looked after and out for, and equipping people with skills and knowledge - these are all the bread and butter things that neighbourhood houses do every day - and our adaptive, flexible and responsive framework will serve our community well as we start to collectively consider the impacts of a changing climate, whether that be more hotter days, more severe weather events etc.

This week Kalimna and I will be out of the office from Wednesday afternoon through to Friday as we are off to the annual Neighbourhood Houses Victoria conference. Lee will be here Wednesday afternoon and Clare will be here from 9.30am-3pm on Thursday and Friday to keep things going.

So finally … we’ll start our programming for next semester soon. If you have any ideas we’d love to hear from you! Send us a email or give Leanne a call. And we hope you have a great week!