And, when a round of hands all in favour to support the house were raised, she had to rewind the stream and watch it again to make sure it was true.
“When the notice of motion went to council, I was so nervous watching it live. But then every single councillor voted yes, and I had to go back and replay it,” Mrs Boer said.
“We’re incredibly grateful to the council, especially Cr Sam Spinks, for recognising our situation and fighting for us.
“It means a lot to know they see the value in what we do.”
In Tuesday’s meeting, council approved the motion to secure Neighbourhood House Murchison with a fit-for-purpose, council-owned building.
With five neighbourhood houses in the municipality, Murchison was the only building out of the five that wasn’t council-owned.
Mrs Boer said that when she started in her role less than two years ago, one of the first things she noticed was how much of their funding was disappearing into rent instead of benefiting the community.
“We already do so much, but the potential is massive,” she said.
“A council-owned building would mean more stability, more upgrades, more programs and more support for people who really need it, rather than losing it in rent.
“This is huge for Murchison.”
In the council meeting, Cr Spinks commented on the importance of working with the neighbourhood house for the ongoing operations of the group.
“I don’t actually know how they ended up in the only not-council-owned building … but that’s something we can correct now,” Cr Spinks said.
“Neighbourhood houses do incredible work in their communities. They receive every walk of life through their doors and they serve them all with their arms wide open and with whatever it is they need.
“Murchison itself has very little of the services that the City of Greater Shepparton benefits from and tends to be out on a bit of a limb a lot of the time.
“Being able to identify a fit-for-purpose location for them, we will be able to provide them with the stability and the security that they need to be able to do what they do best without having to worry about the place they call home not being a permanent structure for them.”
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