New room a boom with community

Families wanting to hold meetings at the Canterbury Community Child Care Centre now have an appropriate space to do so in their new office and meeting room.

Completed earlier this year, the six-week renovation was a welcome addition to expand the centre’s usable working space. Previously the staff room and the meeting room overlapped one another and as many as 15 people worked from the small area.

“Our previous space was not sufficient; it had to service so many people and it was cramped, noisy and not private at all,” said Mary-Anne Mamarelis, Director of the Canterbury Community Child Care Centre.

Aside from children, families and staff, other stakeholders who benefit from the new construction include the centre’s educators who now have a quiet room to plan their preschool curriculum and other outside professionals working with the centre’s children with special needs.

Mary-Anne mentioned the feedback so far has been very positive and families have commented how large the new area is compared to the previous office space.

Canterbury League Club is a major sponsor of the child care’s building project; contributing $20,000 to the overall costs. The Canterbury Community Child Care Centre is one of 120 different community and sporting groups which received a share of a $1.35 million funding pool from Canterbury’s 2013 ClubGrants Scheme.

“It is wonderful to support community groups like this because the benefits can be felt directly within the local community. The new space will enable staff, as well as other supporting inter-agencies, to assist children and their families more effectively,” said Dr George Peponis OAM, Chairman of the Canterbury League Club.