Get involved at Murchison Neighbourhood House

By Jay Bryce

Feb 17, 2023

Louis Bowden is the manager of the Murchison Neighbourhood House,

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He said the house existed to gauge the community’s needs and provide support and an outlet for local residents.

“We have a couple of social enterprise programs, like the book store and the op shop, we create baskets for the community, we have two community meals a week, we do food and material aid, so if people need a little bit of a hand feeding their kids and getting them through the week, we can help with that,” he said.

Mr Bowden said following the October floods he was able to get a few programs up and running to help flood-affected members of the community.

“We only have a handful of local businesses so I’m not trying to take any customers from them, so I invested in vouchers instead of just handing out things from our op shop or whatever,” he said.

Friendly face: Manager Louis Bowden started at the house around seven months ago. He has a background in law, journalism, teaching and community development. Photo by Jay Bryce

He said his two main focuses going forward were to find a way to connect and interlink with other local community groups more often and to offer a broader range of activities at the house in order to attract different demographics from the community.

“Last couple of years have been weird, but we have to start planning together and applying for things strategically and figure out what’s best for the future of Murchison, rather than everyone doing their own thing just trying to keep their head above the water,” he said.

Mr Bowden said he wanted everyone to know they could get involved with the house.

“If someone wants to start a group or has an idea, I’m more than happy to throw a bit of money behind it, and do my best to support it and get it off the ground,” he said.

“The more people that know about us, that come in and have a chat to me and everyone here from different groups within the community, the better for us and Murchison as a whole.”