Goodstart service to share food and books with local community

The Northern Suburbs Men’s Shed have built a number of structures for Goodstart Early Learning centres in Clarkson and Merriwa, Western Australia, to support vulnerable families and promote literacy, local news source Wanneroo Times has reported.

Regina Corcoran, Director at Clarkson, said that the strong community focus for the service, combined with the number of vulnerable families in the area were the driver for establishing the community library and pantry. 

Ms Corcoran said the established relationship the service holds with Feed it Forward (Maori style) has been a big support in ensuring pantry stocks remain high.

At the Merriwa service, director Shelby Evan told Wanneroo Times that by creating a library, the service hoped that all children in the area would gain access to books to promote early literacy. 

“We were so excited to be working with the Northern Suburbs Men’s Shed and were amazed at what a fantastic job they had done creating our vision,” she added. 

John Corbett, Men’s Shed Chairman, said the members were happy to be of assistance, and looked forward to helping other groups with similar needs. Information about the work of the Northern Suburbs Men’s Shed may be found here.