By Marcus Uhe
As cost of living pressures continue to put the squeeze on our bank accounts, support services in the City of Casey have found themselves accommodating new clientele.
A combination of skyrocketing food and grocery prices, interest rate rises and unprecedented fuel costs have resulted in people facing issues they may never have previously encountered.
The requirement has seen Community Information and Support Cranbourne (CISC) and Balla Balla Community Centre join forces to host a Spring Clean Your Finances Expo on Saturday 15 October.
The event, the brainchild of Balla Balla Community Centre manager Maree Cullinan, aims to empower the community with knowledge to help ease everyday pressures through workshops and discussions with experts in the field.
“We’re talking about the whole of community,” Ms Cullinan said.
“These may be people in the past who have never required any assistance, so they don’t know what is out there.
“The whole idea is, through this expo, if they can save $30 a week, that would go a long way to help them and until we showcase what’s on offer in the area, they’ll never know, because they’ve never had to look for these things.
“It’s for people not to feel like there’s a stigma (with asking for financial help). It’s about, we are all in this together.
“Leanne (Petridis) and I work in this space and we know people are experiencing difficulties. What we’re trying to do is say, there are some solutions for you.
“Come along, that’s what we’re here for.”
A number of support providers and services, including Peninsula Community Legal Centre, the Salvation Army, Cranbourne Library, Turning Point Church, financial councillors, and many more will be represented on the day.
Ms Cullinan and executive officer at CISC Leanne Petridis had an event of this nature in mind pre-Covid-19.
With recent figures from the Australian Tax Office putting Cranbourne as one of the suburbs that most accessed JobKeeper payments throughout lockdowns, and heading into the Christmas period where spending inevitably increases, Ms Petridis said the last two years had reinforced the need for an event like this.
“We know that we’re in this for the long haul now,” she said.
“We’re trying to use our ordinary incomes or budgets to deal with these extraordinary times. We do know that people, when we look at the local area, there are a lot of people who are struggling with precarious employment, and there’s no JobKeeper to support that.
“If we get on the front foot now, we may be able to alleviate some pressure now by providing information in more of an expo-type situation for the community to come to.
“(This event) is not about us telling, it’s not about us doing. It’s about us offering information and opportunity for people to take that away and use it when they need it.”
Pairing the serious side with some enjoyable activities, cooking and gardening classes will be offered to demonstrate how to stretch the weekly budget to produce quality, delicious meals for the whole family to enjoy, featuring home-grown produce.
“We saw throughout Australia a resurgence of people having gardens at home, so it’s building on that,” Ms Cullinan said.
“People want to grow their own vegetables at home and that’s an opportunity there, to learn about what it is to grow vegetables and use them in the kitchen.
“Our chef will be talking about that and the participants will be able to taste the foods so they’ll have first-hand experience of what it actually tastes like.”
Kids activities, such as facepainting, will also be offered to keep the whole family engaged and entertained.
The event will take place at the Balla Balla Community Centre, at 65 Berwick-Cranbourne Rd, Cranbourne East on Saturday 15 October between 1pm and 5pm.
