For Communify, National Volunteer Week is a time to celebrate our volunteers and the myriad of ways they enrich our organisational culture and our work within the community. We are especially inspired when our volunteers come together to create their own unique projects, and our Free Range Street Library Boxes are a wonderful, vibrant example of this.
It was a true team effort to build, paint and decorate the first Street Library Box at Love Street, Spring Hill, driven by a shared aim to create a colourful, uplifting scene for everyone in the community to enjoy.
The Mitchelton Rotary Club kindly provided their intricate craftsmanship to build and donate two Free Range Street Library Boxes to Communify. Esteemed local artist Carolin Harris and Communify’s resident art therapist Tanya Burkhardt then collaborated to decorate the boxes. For the Love Street Box (pictured), they opted for sunny yellow paint and lined the inside of the box with pages from magazines for a quirky twist.
Carolin’s own connections with Rotary, and by extension Communify, were what called her to work on this project:
“My mum’s older brother Lyle Connell was a Rotarian at Brisbane West Rotary Club. They held their meetings at the Queensland Lawn Tennis Association rooms at Milton. Uncle Lyle was Chairman of the Community Service Committee the year the club held functions to raise money to build the Brisbane West Senior Citizens Centre at Paddington. Many of you will know this building as Communify’s Paddington Centre. Uncle Lyle’s name is still on the plaque at the front of the building – have a look next time you’re there!”
The Love Street Library Box was then installed by our very own Men’s Shed Spring Hill volunteers, led by Robert Collins. Men’s Shed Spring Hill is a collaborative project between Friends of Bedford Park and New Farm Rotary Club, with assistance from Brisbane City Council and Communify. The project facilitates a space where men of all ages can find social support and camaraderie in a safe, supportive and friendly environment to work with other men on meaningful projects at their own pace, in their own time.
Men’s Shed Spring Hill is currently seeking new members. The group meets every Wednesday and Sunday between 10am-2pm at Bedford Park Community Hall, corner Water St and Love St, Spring Hill. If you’re interested in joining, please call 0413 205 499 for more information.