Louisa McKay wants the Byron Community Centre (BCC)to be a ‘community centre for the people’.
She will take over as chair of BCC board from current chair, Bruce Clarke in October.
Louisa started working at Liberation Larder, which provides meals to homeless people in Byron Bay out of the community centre, after she moved to the area around ten years ago and saw first-hand how tough it can be for people to keep a solid foothold in life with rents, food, families, etc.
‘I am very passionate about helping people who are sleeping rough but what also really surprised me was that there are some very well-dressed people who rock up to Liberation Larder. And you think, “that could be me”. It could be any of us, really, we’re just one rental payment away from homelessness.’
With lots of ideas on how to help people doing it tough in the community, it wasn’t long before Louisa was persuaded to join the BBCC board.
Now with current chair Bruce Clarke deciding to step down, Louisa has been asked to step up.
‘Louisa is going to be a fantastic chair – a woman who brings the energy and experience of a successful businesswoman, while being very committed to our community,’ Bruce told The Echo.
‘She is really looking to bring diversity back into the community centre, to really get the community behind us, with a focus on fundraising to support all the vital work the BBCC does in the community’.
Without dedicated, recurrent funding from the state or federal governments the BCC has to rely on the community to donate and support their programs that support people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, with food, counselling, showers, washing facilities and more.
‘We’ve been left out in the cold from a government perspective,’ said Bruce.
‘We see government-funded projects in the Tweed and south of here, but we aren’t seeing those projects funded in Byron, where we have the highest rate of rough sleepers outside of Sydney.’
Community support
A key to the future of the BCC and its programs is regular donations that would help create a sustainable funding structure, says Louisa.
‘I feel like every month when we have our board meeting, we’re like, “Alright, how much do we need this month? Who do we call? What do we do?” It’d be nice to not be hand-to-mouth and have a sustainable base of donations that keept us going.
‘What I would love to see at the BCC is us with our doors open and people coming in, you know, having a coffee and a chat and seeing how we can help them. I would love to see it as more of a community and cultural centre that is accessible to everyone from every walk of life.’
If you feel you can make a regular donation or have time to be a volunteer, find out more at: www.byroncentre.com.au.
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