Four of a kind are aces on community support
Every day throughout the City of Logan, a special group of people are quietly working hard in the background to support others in need.
In a city of more than 350,000 residents from 234 cultures, these community needs are diverse, span all ages and backgrounds, and sometimes are serious and urgent.
Among those who offer grassroots support in the city are 4 very different women, who in many ways, are 4 of a kind in the work they do for the community.
Esperance Nyirabarahinyuza is a director for Woodridge-based Power of Inspiration.
The organisation’s volunteers – who speak 7 languages including Swahili, Rwandan and French – teach local residents how to sew, knit, crochet and basket weave as well as imparting English language skills.
They also focus on creating economic empowerment in areas not addressed by formal employment services for those from refugee and immigrant backgrounds.
Mission Possible Volunteers coordinator Gail Harrower has brought together a 500-strong army of volunteers over the past 22 years to create handmade items for people in need.
Working out of a Council-supplied building on Jacaranda Avenue at Logan Central, their highly valued handiwork includes patchwork quilts, rugs, dementia mats and aprons and satin pillowcases.
They also make wrist straps for research physiotherapists that help measure and record the movement of children with autism.
Over the past 10 years, Zada Sinn has served as a dance coordinator at the Khmer Buddhist Temple at Marsden. The group teaches traditional Cambodian dances and costuming.
Zada says participants share their traditions and culture through dance and regularly perform at community events and festivals.
Sharing culture is also the foundation of First Nations organisation Gunya Meta, based in the Council-owned Ryan’s House in Logan Central.
Aunty Faith Green says the organisation helps keep local residents connected through community connection sessions, a yarning circle, open mic sessions and the Deadly Thinking youth suicide prevention program.
Their programs involve First Nations people but are open to the entire community.
Logan City Council supports these and many other organisations through the provision of 53 general community spaces, 17 community centres and more than $1.3 million in grants to help strengthen the city’s social, environmental, cultural and economic development.
Council also supports community needs by committing $8.78 million for vital infrastructure, while Councillors ensure their local communities thrive through division-based Local Infrastructure Program (LIP) funding.
Recent and planned works include:
› Planning for the Park Ridge/Logan Reserve General Community Space
› Design and construction of the Wilbur Street youth centre in Logan Central
› Development of a new District Community Centre for the Greater Flagstone community.
Learn more about Logan City Council grants and community centres in Logan.
By Julie Brumfield-Jones
