General News
13 December, 2024
Demand for support rises
Clunes’ streetscape looks a bit different this year with the Neighbourhood House’s festive decorations largely not going up as their other events shrink from previous years. These changes, however, are due to resources being used to address increased demand for the Neighbourhood House’s emergency relief.
According to Lana de Kort, the manager of Clunes Neighbourhood House, demand for emergency relief has almost doubled in the last three months while funding has gotten tighter over the last 18 months to two years.
“That tells us that as much as a festival vibe or an elaborate party might have been lovely, the timing wasn’t right,” she said.
Ms de Kort described how for a “good chunk of the population” in Clunes their most basic needs aren’t being met.
The Neighbourhood House’s Christmas decorations and lights are nearly 10 years old and have deteriorated to the point they can’t do the streetscape like in past years without a significant investment, which Ms de Kort said they flagged two years ago.
If the community would like to bring back their street decorations next Christmas, Ms de Kort said the community would need to fundraise to replace them which could cost $8000 to $10,000.
“But really the community needs to get together and decide if that is a priority for them and then how they would want to go about it,” she said.
Furthermore, while the number of volunteers hasn’t declined at the Neighbourhood House Ms de Kort said they have gotten older.
“It’s quite fair to say we don’t have many volunteers who are able to go up and down scaffolding as we did when we first started Christmas in Clunes festivities,” she said.
But even if the money was there and volunteers able to put them up Ms de Kort said the town needs to ask the question: could that money be better used elsewhere?
Through the Christmas celebrations this year Ms de Kort wanted to model to other small communities and individuals that it’s okay not to do the big expensive events.
“Instead what’s important is getting together as a community and being able to sit down and talk to each other. You can do things simply but still in a way that is meaningful and, in fact, in some cases more meaningful,” she said.
Ms de Kort encouraged small towns to think of this time of year as an opportunity to think on what makes their town special.
“Often it’s the people or the place not necessarily the frills and bows,” she said.
She hopes the town will also get behind the businesses that are open and volunteers that are trying to make a difference around this time of year.
“That to me is the true Christmas spirit,” she said.