After-school club
Homework, hot food and a gym, weekdays until six.
About us
Forty-six years on the same corner.
A short history, the people who keep it running, and what we are for.
How it started
Founded by twelve families meeting in a rented school gymnasium, the center now serves more than eight hundred households.
The main hall seats four hundred, and the commercial kitchen has cooked every Saturday supper since 1988.
The building was a feed store before it was a hall. The beams above the stage are the original ones, which is why nothing can be hung from them without asking.
What we are for
The center exists to give the neighborhood a room it does not have to justify wanting. That is the whole of it.
Every week
What happens here
Most of it run by people who live within a mile of the door.
Community kitchen
A shared meal every Saturday, cooked by whoever turns up.
Senior circle
A weekly gathering with transport for anyone who needs it.
The kitchen
Saturday supper, cooked here since 1988
Whoever turns up cooks. Whoever turns up eats. There is no charge and no sign-up sheet — the only rule is that the last four people wash up.
The kitchen is certified for commercial use, which is why the caterers who work our weddings can use it too. It is the reason the hall pays for itself.
Who keeps it running
Two of the people you will meet
Rosa Whitfield — hall keeper
Keeps the diary, opens up, and knows which of the three heaters actually works. Twenty-two years in the job, and the reason the hall is never double-booked.
Dana Okonkwo — chair
Came for a committee night in 2009 and never left. Runs the annual meeting, writes the grant applications, and is the person to talk to about the kitchen appeal.
How we are funded
Room hire pays for the building. Roughly two thirds of what the center spends in a year comes from weddings, wakes, classes and committee nights — which is why the rates are set to cover costs rather than to make money.
The rest is membership, the Saturday collection tin, and grants we apply for one at a time. Every penny is reported at the annual meeting in March, and the accounts are on the table for anyone who wants to read them.
Join the center
Individual $60 a year, Family $120, Patron $250. Members get reduced room rates, a vote at the annual meeting in March, and the newsletter.
Tell us which one and we will send you the form and the bank details. Nothing is taken on this page.