A childcare centre, 1914 church hall and the National Trust heritage bakehouse which hosts the Dig In Community Grocery are three community buildings managed by Emerald Community House.
The centre provides a colourful playground with a bountiful children’s hobby garden and greenhouse, adult education, free wifi, internet, power recharge points, FoodBank program with free food 24/7 and monthly community market on the third Sunday of the month.
ECH education programs and courses have been recognised by the Adult Community and Further Education as local exemplars and finalists in state wide excellence. The brand new arts studio housed in the heritage hall includes a large pottery kiln and delivers courses in ceramics, jewellery making and glass fusion. These courses are perfect for escaping the daily trials of living which we all are coping with. We have pottery courses for children too. Our wellbeing program runs weekly and keeps people connected to reduce isolation.
The award winning Emerald Messenger is on a hiatus until early 2023 being reconfigured as a learn-by-doing adult education course, inviting participants to learn how to put together a community newspaper from the ground up. With the disappearance of regional and local newspapers, community led publishing is filling the void. Our cooking and adult literacy courses help to increase reading, writing and comprehension skills in everyday living. The creative writing course also helps to increase writing and communication skills while exploring different styles of writing.
ECH has received 2 solar grants in 2022 which include additional battery storage from the Commonwealth government, thanks to Jason Wood’s support. We also received solar panel funding from the Victorian government to install a 5kw system which will increase our operational capacity especially when there is a power outage as well as reduce our utility bills. Our next endeavour will be to install an electric car charge point at our centre. Contact ECH on 59683881 or emhouse@iinet.net.au.
