THE Gawler Community House is up for an award for a new initiative aimed at bringing people together.

The Café Connection opened earlier this year, inviting the community to share in an affordable and nutritious meal, within a safe, friendly and welcoming space.

Gawler Community House manager Sharyn Lewis said within the first few weeks of its opening, in March, the café had already brought new people to the house, realising a goal to reach more people in the community.

The café is run by volunteers and serves a selection of sandwiches, desserts and hot food, making use of a brand-new kitchen purchased with a grant through the State Government’s Fund My Neighbourhood program.

And while COVID-19 has forced its closure for the past few months, Ms Lewis said she hopes to have it reopened again soon.

“It’s been my dream since I started here to open a café, so when we won the grant, the first thing I said was ‘I want a servery in there’,” she said.

“(When it opened) I got to meet people I haven’t seen before and a lot of people that did come through went ‘I’ll be back, this is awesome’.

“I have since had a number of people call me up to say ‘when are you going to open up the café again, we want to come back’.”

The café has earned the Gawler Community House a nomination in the South Australian Community Achievement awards, in the category of Community Centres SA ‘The Loneliness Cure’ award.

The category aims to recognise the part grass roots, real life initiatives led by community centres, local community groups and not-for-profits play in connecting people up.

The Community Achievement Awards feature 11 categories, and the winners of which will be announced at an Awards Gala Presentation Dinner on Friday, December 11, 2020.
Category winners receive $1000 Bartercard credit, $500 cash and a $500 Woolworths voucher, along with a trophy.