A local charity has rescued hundreds of locals who depend on soon to be terminated vital care programs.
Impact Care Services have signed a peppercorn lease for the Caddies Community Centre in Jimboomba – just $1 a year – replacing Able Australia who operated out of the centre for more than a decade.
Able announced in May this year it would be closing its Jimboomba operations due to the rising cost of living.
It meant the end for eight staff, even more volunteers, 150 frequent clients and several hundred more locals who rely on the Caddies centre for emergency relief, transport services and its cherished food pantry.
Impact Care director Heath Henwood said the charity’s vision for Caddies included returning it to “a real community centre”.
“A place where locals feel they can come in and do different activities and join groups,” he said.
“A lot of what we’ve been doing at the moment is the big picture stuff, but also listening to the locals and volunteers about their stories and passions.”
Mr Henwood said Impact Care Services had been operating in Logan as a not-for-profit “with a passion for Logan,” since 2016.
“Being a community-minded organisation, we saw the opportunity to express our interest in taking over the services and managing the centre there for the community,” he said.
He said the services at Caddies would be “different but the same”.
“When any organisation takes over something like that, there are always going to be changes, but a lot of the services will continue on,” he said.
“Some of the those we will manage ourselves, and others will be outsourced because some other organisations do it better than we can.
“For example, bus transport is not our speciality, so Transit Care are going to take that on.”
Popular services like Meals on Wheels and the food pantry will continue.
“The food bank will look a little bit different in that we have more access to produce and goods than what Able had, so that will expand,” Mr Henwood said.
“We do a lot of training services already, so we’re negotiating with the state government about expanding those programs to Jimboomba.”
Able Australia also blamed “inadequate funding” from the federal government for its closure.
In a statement, the not-for-profit said its south-east Queensland services had been running at a “significant loss” for years.
“These services have run at a loss of more than $2.2 million just since 2018 and Able Australia has covered the cost of these losses,” a statement said.
“As a not-for-profit organisation, we are not in a position to continue to do this.”
While council had no role in Able’s closure, local councillor and deputy mayor Scott Bannan said it “copped a lot of flak” for it.
Regardless, council, who owns the Caddies centre, worked with state and federal MPs to find a replacement service provider.
Able will continue operating out of the centre until 30 September this year before operation is ceased across Queensland.
