The joint effort that keeps the Ashmont Community Centre ticking along has been recognised with a national award.
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Anglicare Australia's national partnership award is one of four gongs given out annually across a network of more than 30 community organisations.
It has this year been given to recognise the partnership between the Anglicare Riverina Youth and Family Services team and the Anglican Community of the Redeemer Church.
In the past year, hundreds of families have attended parenting groups, play groups and received housing assistance, emergency food and other supports. Initiatives specifically for indigenous families are also run out of the Ashmont centre.
Brad Addison, who is Anglicare's regional manager, said the goal of the partnership between Anglicare and the Redeemer Church was to make services more accessible to the Ashmont community.
“The team here know people by name and offer support, advocacy, resources, skills development and social interaction to often very vulnerable families who would otherwise struggle to find assistance," Mr Addison said.
Sandy Wells, who is a parish councillor at Redeemer, was part of the formation of the partnership 16 years ago.
"The church was already running kids classes, budgeting workshops and cooking classes for the community, but we wanted to do more," she said.
"Anglicare had the staffing, resources and guidelines in place to allow services to operate every day in a safe and innovative way. We wanted local families to feel safe to attend."
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