Outback Links Narooma and Cobargo: Day 1
Let me tell you about Monty’s Place. Established in 2013 it is a local community group dedicated to alleviating food security by providing weekly nutritious meals to the disadvantaged of Narooma and surrounding areas.
Throughout the Black Summer bushfires and for many weeks post emergency period, Monty’s Place extended daily meals to the community, volunteers and emergency services. With many displaced, all communications down and with travel restrictions in place, the team at Monty’s Place became a vital service, serving as a crucial support network, providing a listening ear and a calming presence during this distressing time.
Operating from the Uniting Church Hall facilities for over 10 years, the volunteer group continues to provide over 60 free meals a week and has an open dining space for individuals to gather.
As they have very limited funds, our team of NRMA volunteers are helping to revitalise the exterior of the hall by cleaning, prepping and painting the exterior of the building and other general maintenance tasks.
Outback Links Narooma and Cobargo: Day 2
The painting at Monty's Place in Narooma looks great and the team managed to complete 95% of the painting before the rain beat them and they had to call it a day.
The good news for us working In Cobargo is that it wasn't raining here, so they came and joined us over in the CCO Community Garden for the afternoon.
The Cobargo Co-Operative Society (CCO). It is a community-owned cooperative enterprise that has been providing services solely for the benefit of Cobargo for over 120 years. Originally operating as a Butter Factory, today, CCO operates two stores that offer a range of agricultural, gardening and hardware supplies.
During the Black Summer Bushfires, CCO became the hub and driving force behind the community led response. Despite personal devastation among their team, CCO’s resilient staff opened the doors to provide crucial support, offering rationed fuel, emergency feed and fencing supplies for livestock.
As weeks continued, the CCO continued to act as an emergency hub and also led the distribution of donations received, leveraging their knowledge of the community to identify those most in need.
Today, CCO continues to champion various community projects. In recent years, they have established a Tool Library, providing the community with a space to borrow various tools. Additionally, to support their commitment to community well-being and resilience, they have also established a volunteer driven Community Garden.
The NRMA team are working on the community garden and already it is far from resembling the overgrown jungle it was yesterday morning. Plus, the garden shed has some new shelves.
