Community award for driving health and wellbeing in flood recovery effort

WARDELL Neighbourhood Centre has been recognised for its efforts in flood recovery and resilience at the 2025 Community Achievement Awards of New South Wales and the ACT.

The CORE community group formed after the floods in 2022 and won the health and wellbeing award for its ongoing efforts in supporting the town.

It is made up of volunteers, with the centre providing trauma-informed counselling, therapeutic horticulture, food relief and social connection programs.

It supports flood-impacted residents, isolated seniors and low-income families.

They have been responsible for providing over 2,500 counselling sessions and 3,000 food hampers to the community.

The award recognised the group for improving mental health, reducing financial stress and strengtheneing community resilience

“We’re really proud of the work we’ve done in that space, and I think we’ve made a huge difference to people’s lives,” Wardell CORE president Joel Orchard said.

“The award is great recognition for our volunteers and the amount of work they’ve done over the years.

“It’s been a huge amount of work, and we’ve tried to remain relevant as people’s needs have changed

“It went from crisis to recovery, then into resilience to where we are now.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be a short process due to the extreme nature of the event.”

Hundreds of community groups were nominated at the awards, with a gala night held in Sydney with 350 guests.

The Wardell group has previously been a finalist and people’s choice award winner at the event.

Orchard said it was important to acknowledge the amount of work still happening in Wardell and across the Northern Rivers.

“There are still houses to be demolished at Wardell, places being rebuilt and long-term health impacts where we’re seeing relationship breakdowns and family challenges,” he said.

“On top of that we have a transient and mobile community who arrive at Wardell from a range of places.

“They’re coming for basic needs and support and it’s wonderful that we can offer that.

“It was great to see other Northern Rivers groups among the finalists, too.

“We’re a force to be reckoned with when it comes to our communities.”