Cafe opens as a community space

THE doors were opened earlier this week on a new cafe at The Salvation Army Ballarat Community Church.

For a gold coin donation, everyone can stop in to the new space called Cafe@102 for a coffee, meal, and chat, or a break from the winter chill.

With the space next to the church’s op shop, minister Graham Kennedy said the revamp is the culmination of making the site into an overarching place for the community.

“We’ve reconfigured everything to turn this place into more of a community centre,” he said.

“We used to hand out meals out the front because of COVID. Now we’re bringing people inside to have conversations and to make it more inclusive.

The cafe will be open between 10am to 2pm every Monday to Friday run by the church’s volunteer team and six staff members, with the view to serve as a function space for community groups when needed.

Mr Kennedy said the space previously went underutilised, often used mostly for larger funerals.

He said there’s never been more of a need for a community space like the cafe.

“We’re getting people we’ve never seen before suffering mortgage stress,” he said. “There’s no cafe in this immediate area for people to get out of the warmth as well. This ties everything together.”