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By Mick Jensen - The Ashburton Resource Centre struck it lucky when it was awarded money from the NZ Lottery Grants Board. The money has and continues to be well spent. The centre was awarded two amounts, totalling $93,559, for the refurbishment of the tired, worn and tatty interior of its building it occupies on the corner of Cass and Tancred Street. The inside is now looking smart, inviting and professional. The rabbit-warren of a building is home to more than 25 local groups including Barnardos, SeniorNet, Problem Gambling, Birthright, Ashburton Road Safety, as well as counsellors, a solicitor, the needle exchange and the Newcomers Network. The groups share many of the centre’s resources including the reception, toilets, kitchen, photocopier and meeting rooms. Resource Centre manager Margaret Duffield, who put together the funding application, wasted no time in putting the funding to good use. “The interior of the building in particular was looking old and well past its use by date. “I’ve been with the centre for the last seven years and this is the first time there have been any real renovations carried,” said Mrs Duffield. The previously uninviting reception area has been expanded by knocking through a small wall and is now bright and welcoming, with space for an additional workstation. New carpets, paint and cupboards have all added to the major make-over. Many other tatty areas of the building have received the same spruce up treatment. There’s new lino in the toilets and new cupboards in the kitchen. The big, 50-person meeting room upstairs has been lined to reduce the noise and has also received new heating, lighting and carpet. Work is close to completion and the results are impressive. “It’s already wonderful compared with how it used to be. I used to find myself apologising for the thread bare carpet in the big meeting room, but not any longer,” said Mrs Duffield. The centre still needed furniture to replace the accumulated mix and match of chairs and the council had promised to repair and revamp the exterior of the building, but other than that it was now well-resourced, said Mrs Duffield. There are still three upstairs rooms available to rent and the meeting room rates are very cheap. The Ashburton Resource Centre has a comprehensive database of around 1000 local and regional groups, social service organisations, clubs and networks organisations. “We often get calls for the Resource Recovery Park, but we are very much the Ashburton Resource Centre,” said Mrs Duffield. |
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