By Romy Stephens
The Healesville Living and Learning Centre (HLLC) is providing free fabric for the community to make face masks.
With face masks mandatory for residents leaving their home in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire from 23 July, the doors of the centre’s craft room have been opened to the public.
HLLC CEO James McCarthy said opening the space was all about supporting locals and those who can’t afford or access a face mask.
“The Healesville Living and Learning Centre is a place for the community, it’s to support the local community, it’s owned by the local community, so it was about how we can actually give back,” he said.
“That’s really why we wanted to open the doors to everyone and just be there to provide support, because it is a challenging time.
“For us it’s about the value of access and equity. Our society does not always necessarily operate fairly and so we’re here to try and shift that balance back and to make it fairer for people, so everyone can participate freely and equally in our community.”
The centre’s administration officer, Dianne Sanders, said due to a lack of classes being run on-site, there were plenty of supplies available.
“We’ve got some fabric in the front office and loads of it in the sewing room so we are offering it free to anyone who wants to come in and grab some,” she said.
“There are lots of fabric pieces there, it’s just sitting there going to waste at the moment so we thought we would share it with the community.”
The HLLC has been forced to change the way it operated during the pandemic with less people coming through the doors, but the staff are still working to support the community.
Earlier this year, the centre operated an online wellbeing program which shared ideas on how people could cope during the pandemic and remain connected.
The centre also has a large computer room and printing facilities open to the public.
“During the pandemic we had the library close down so people needing to access computers and the internet for job seeking have been coming here,” Mr McCarthy said.
“Usually there is a charge, but of course with what’s going on we’ve actually reduced or made most of our things for free.”
The HLLC craft space is available by appointment should people require the use of a sewing machine to make a mask.
To book, contact 5962 5982.
For more information about face masks and how to make them, visit www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/face-masks-covid-19.
