Neighbourhood and community centres are struggling to keep their doors open and are cutting services because they don’t have ongoing core funding to cover staffing and operating costs.

The co-founder of Wardell CORE, Joel Orchard, has been named the 2026 Northern Rivers Volunteer of the Year, recognising his contribution to community connection, disaster preparedness and food relief through the Wardell Neighbourhood Centre.

With one last chance for councillors to justify their existence before being reshuffled, Ballina's final meeting before next month's local government elections is happening tomorrow. There's a packed agenda, including a DA decision which will affect whether WardellCORE can continue at their current site of operations.

Nominated for not one but three separate awards in 2024's Ballina Shire Australia Day event is WardellCORE (Community Organised Resilience Effort), which has been instrumental in Wardell's ongoing recovery since the 2022 floods. The Echo caught up with Joel Orchard to find out more.

This week, Wardell's Community Organised Resilience Effort was awarded $10,000 by Southern Cross Credit Union to start a community garden program.

Northern Rivers flood survivors are living in flimsy tents by the side of the road, in caravan parks, out bush or in backyards, as morning frost appears this winter.

Wardell's Community Organised Resilience Effort is now operating out of the old bank building in Wardell, after a controversial forced move from the much larger War Memorial Hall, which is currently being renovated following the floods.

Wardell's Community Organised Resilience Effort (CORE) has been one of the stand-out good news stories following the devastating floods, but now CORE has been asked to leave the Wardell War Memorial Hall.

Wardell's Community Organised Resilience Effort (CORE) is planning a community event on Saturday to celebrate the way their local community has pulled through the flooding disaster.

Joel Orchard, farmer and food activist, is becoming a go-to person in the region on topics such as farming, food sovereignty and ecological agriculture.