.jpg)
.jpg)
Last-minute donations keep community group afloat for now, but internet security remains elusive
November 22, 2022
By Peter Holmes
Paula Townsend remembered two phone calls received during the week in September when Bowen Community Technology Centre was forced to close after the money ran out.
“I had two complaints: one was that children were coerced by another couple of kids to go and break windows. I said, ‘What time was this?’, and she said, ‘When you were supposed to be open’,” Townsend told The Orange News Examiner.
“Then I got a phone call from a woman who was teaching a young girl to drive and found children playing on the pedestrian crossing, running out in front of cars. I said ‘What time?’, she said ‘Quarter to four’.
“At least if I’m open the kids aren’t doing that sort of stuff.”
The closure was brought about by an evergreen issue for this little community group, which has battled on for 14 years to provide free computer, resume and printing services to local adults and young school children - funding.
Orange City Council has remained a strong supporter, offering the premises on Spring Street for free, and covering utility payments, but to remain open Townsend needs about $40,000 a year to cover the costs, which include paying herself a basic wage of $21 an hour, internet for the computers and stationery.
DELIVERY NEWS: Tired of food and parcels being delivered to the wrong Orange address? Try living on this street...
During the week the centre was closed Townsend “sat at home and did grant funding”.
For about two months after reopening she kept the centre running for 27 hours a week without any pay. But it was an untenable situation, as Townsend simply didn't have the means to work what was close to a full-time job as a volunteer. She had also spent hundreds of dollars of her own money for supplies.
When a generous local said they would cover the costs of the centre’s public liability insurance, Townsend was able to back pay herself a fortnight’s wages.
The children and adults who come to Bowen Community Technology Centre can be living in circumstances of disadvantage. They can go without things that many locals take for granted, such as a computer and internet access, or the means to get a computer repaired or pay for internet security.
Townsend’s digital oasis allows kids to get homework done or play educational games such as Wordle. It lets adults who don’t have a computer pay bills or undertake research, or get assistance in making a resume.
She said a number of the children were from large, single parent families.
“They don’t have a lot of facilities at home like a lot of other kids do. They might have a phone, but not a computer and the internet, but children can’t do homework on their phones.”
During the Covid lockdowns schools offered work that could be picked up at the school and done at home, but some families didn’t have cars, Townsend said. She would collect that work and deliver it to families “to keep the kids engaged”.
HOUSING NEWS: Anyone up for a spot of (lawn) tennis? Iconic, multimillion-dollar Orange home on the market
Each year Townsend sets herself a goal of having 5,000 visits to the Bowen Community Technology Centre. In the week before we spoke 141 had come through. On the day before, 27, including 24 children.
“I’ve seen a lot of kids [over the years],” Townsend said. “I was just speaking to one of the principals and we both commented on one of the young students who has changed in the last 18 months and matured and wants to learn, and he's talking about getting a job. He’s still in year 5. They are getting direction in school and direction here.”
Over the last couple of months Townsend has filled out 19 grant applications. They are often laborious, and may not result in funds being allocated, but she has to go through the process to be in with a shot.
“We do not fit into most places’ ideas [of what should be funded]."
TRUCK NEWS: “Significant safety risk”: Police investigate Ron Finemore B-double, as company management meets
She said in the long run the money state or federal governments invest in a community group such as Bowen Community and Technology Centre was returned with interest, “but [governments] don’t think like that”.
In the days after we spoke, Townsend received some good news - Cadia Valley Operations had considered a grant application and was going to stump up $15,000.
It will keep the centre alive into 2023, and for that Townsend is very grateful.
But what she really needs is a longer term government commitment for some or all of that funding, so she is not constantly spending hours trying to work out how to survive.
Each year Townsend only closes for a few weeks in total. She has a Friday off in April to go to Bundanoon in the Southern Highlands, and another in July to go to the Hunter Valley for the Aberdeen Highland Games. Then she closes from Christmas to early January.
“Then [some of the kids] start to cause a bit of mischief, so I open up,” Townsend said. “They're usually waiting for me at the gate.”
Yorumlar