Hampton Park Community House staff Di Spencer, Scott Smith and Sue Murphy are happy to have received funding.
A FUNDING announcement was bittersweet this week as Hampton Park Community House staff arrived to find six broken windows.
Acting manager Sue Murphy said staff at the community house deeply appreciated the funding from the State Government.
She said it was good to get recognition for the hard work and services the house provided to the community.
“In the past community houses have been traditionally under-funded for the work they do,” Ms Murphy said.
“Community house managers and staff have been putting in as much if not more volunteer hours as paid hours on wages well below the rates others are being paid doing the same job in the business sector.”
Ms Murphy, who has volunteered at the centre since 1988, said while managers worked an average of 40 hours a week at the centre, they were only paid a maximum of 20 hours a week.
The funding will increase these wages by 25 per cent, though the exact figure of the grant is not yet known.
Ms Murphy said staff arrived on Monday morning to find six of the laminated windows cracked.
She said that unfortunately, broken windows and vandalism were a common occurrence at the Hampton Park building.
The centre has been part of the Hampton Park community for nearly 30 years, offering adult education, childcare, health promotion, recreation, out-of-school-hours care, English and computer classes, hobbies and counselling.
“These programs build people’s skills and capacity to gain employment, participate in community life and contribute to the health of their local communities,” Ms Murphy said.
The funding is part of $27.8 million in State Government funding over four years for Neighbourhood Houses across the state.
