Books, fresh produce and healthy meals have ensured tight-knit Beechworth residents are able to look after their own.
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Over the past eight years, Quercus second-hand bookshop has been raising enough money to cover 30 per cent of costs to run the town’s neighbourhood house.
It has facilitated children’s programs, dances, fitness programs and large community events.
But the addition of a community garden – filled with a variety of vegetables and herbs, plus a commercial kitchen and wood-fired pizza oven – has extended that goodwill even further.
Inmates from Beechworth Correctional Centre now regularly attend the neighbourhood house and use the garden’s produce to cook up meals to be stored in the freezer for anyone in need.
There is no welfare check or questions asked, so anyone from new mums to someone with a neighbour they know is struggling financially are welcome to pick up the meals.
Then once every six weeks, the neighbourhood house hosts a “community sharing feast”, using the garden produce and Albury Wodonga Regional FoodShare, to encourage the community to come together and engage.
Quercus activities and events coordinator Trish Mom and bookshop manager Jan Ryan have been expanding the program since completing the School for Social Entrepreneurs’ social change 101.
They have learned to use business nous to turn profits into a successful enterprise.
“We’re trying to get the community involved … it’s about feeding the wider community,” Ms Mom said.
“We’ve been able to get the ideas out of our heads and into a business plan.
“Without the social change 101 network of fellow social entrepreneurs, our mentors and those business experts who have provided inspiration and advice, I doubt we'd be as far along with our concept as we now are."
Ms Ryan said everyone who helped in the book shop was a volunteer, and books were donated locally and from as far as Melbourne, to create a successful and well-loved store.
“The Beechworth community is at its most resilient when people have the opportunity to come together to share, learn and connect,” she said.
“Through our efforts with the community bookshop we know social enterprise will work here in Beechworth.”
The community garden was already a place where the public could walk or eat lunch, but the Quercus ladies were planning to host a big event in February, featuring markets and – of course – lots of good food.
To contact Quercus Beechworth, visit 30 Ford Street or phone (03) 5728 2386.