GUEST SPEAKERS Carlie Underhill and Natalie Fulford from Yea Community House.
Sue introduced Carlie and Nat who thanked Rotary for their recent donation to their Food Pantry.
With this and the previous lockdown, there has been no Jobkeeper and people are really struggling.
The Community house received funding for 25 staff hours per week from the State Government and funds need to be raised for their other expenses.
In that 25 hours, they are expected to run 50 hours of programming per week and a recent tally shows that they are actually doing 90. This includes exercise, art and craft, gardening and accredited courses as well as their recycling program,
They are responsible for their little free library—the Tardis which seems to be mostly popular with men, the Food Pantry for non perishables, the community garden and the food table located in the library lobby.
Other organisations assist them with donations eg St Lukes' Anglican Church, CWA, schools and private individuals.
Currently, they are working on the Old Primary School (Pioneer Reserve) and working to make spaces more user friendly. They have a grant to install solar power.
Earlier this year they restarted the Yea Table Tennis Club, which is in recess due to Covid at the moment.
Carlie and Nat told us that the majority of people are 40+ years. Red tape limits what they can do for under 16s as they are not qualified to fun programs for them
As a result of questions, we learned that the Community House linked up with the Salvation Army to provide food parcels, but many people do not want to supply the information required to receive them.
There is also homelessness in Yea and St Luke’s has helped provide emergency relief.
People occasionally abuse the Food Pantry, but the incidence is low. 
When asked what else Rotary could do to help, Carlie and Nat asked us to stay connected and spread infor-mation about what they do. They agreed to let us know if they need help in the future, rather than finding themselves in a situation where they had no funds left .
The Community House is open Monday to Thursday from 8.30 to 2.30.
Sue gave a vote of thanks and congratulated the girls on all that they do for the community
MEETING NOTES
Chair: Past President Sue Carpenter
Members present: 16
President Paul at Charleville in Queensland and expecting to be home on Sunday.
Sue thanked Tony for chairing last weeks meeting and commented on the Facebook post showing Kellie, our optometrist sitting on one of the Rotary benches found on the rail trail.