New hub offering all-abilities access

AN open event at Scope Bendigo’s Kangaroo Flat facility on Sunday has put on show the agency’s offerings for people with disabilities in the region.

Held at the recently opened Day Lifestyle Options community hub located at 2/16 Lockwood Road, potential participants and support workers got a taste for everything the all-albitites service provider has to offer.

North DLO manager Kim Branch, who oversees the Bendigo centres Ironbark, Eaglehawk and Kangaroo Flat, said the new hub is designed to provide increased access to community activities.

“It’s a perfect positioning for that,” she said. “There’s so many fantastic community organisations and groups we’ve been able to link in and partner with.”

Ms Branch said the location provides easier access to the Kangaroo Flat Library, Gurri Wanyarra Wellbeing Centre, and public transport.

“We just wanted to capitalise on the area we were in, and we saw the opportunities as far as that community involvement was concerned,” she said.

“I really want it to be a community inclusive space, not just that we’re offering a service. I want this to be a space where people from the community can come and be safe, have a cuppa, have a chat and really build those relationships.”

Scope Australia CEO Kate MacRae visited the site for the open day and said the importance of disability support programs and social activities returning after COVID-19 restrictions has been felt across the whole organisation.

“Human connection is the most important bit of our lives,” she said. “To be back out in the community is incredibly important, to reconnect is quite exciting.”

Ms MacRae said the new Kangaroo Flat facility shows Scope is growing and able to offer more to people with disabilities in the region.

“In a regional area like this, being able to offer services in the heart of the community is the most important thing for us,” she said.