There are times when community is not an idea. It is not a slogan on a wall or a nice sentence in a grant application.
It is people showing up.
Made possible through a NSW State Government grant won last year, the soon-to-open Bellingen Youth Hub gym has just taken another major step forward, thanks to a brilliant act of local generosity.
The Lions Club donated the money needed to install air conditioning, Eco Temp organised the install, and Wendi from Polyaire generously donated the air conditioning units themselves.
In plain English: people saw the value of this project and backed it.
The gym opening has been delayed by the Waterfall Way closure, which threw the usual spanner into the already-chaotic machinery of making good things happen. But we are back on track now, and the space is getting closer.
This gym is not just about weights and mirrors. It is about young people having somewhere to go, somewhere to move, somewhere to belong. It is about health, confidence, discipline, mentoring and connection. It is about building something in Bellingen that is practical, hopeful and very much needed.
Bellingen IGA has also pledged financial support for the Youth Access Fund, helping make sure young people can actually use the gym, not just admire it from the outside. That matters. Access matters. If we are serious about supporting young people, the doors have to open for them.
The Youth Hub has always believed that incredible things happen when community gets its hands dirty. Not in some grand heroic way, but in the ordinary, generous, local way: a government grant gets the dream moving, a club gives money, a business installs, a supplier donates the units, a supermarket backs youth access, volunteers help, people make calls, someone unlocks the door.
And suddenly, a half-mad dream becomes a real room.
A huge thank you to the NSW State Government, Lions Club, Eco Temp, Wendi from Polyaire, Bellingen IGA, and everyone helping bring this gym to life.
We can do incredible things together.
And, apparently, we can now do them in air conditioning.
Michael Mooney –Coordinator, Bellingen Shire Youth Centre
