Ferny Hills street library fostering connection

A new street library and community pantry at Ferny Hills is helping young adults with disabilities forge deeper connections with the local community.

Participants at Claire’s Cottage have transformed a disused chicken coop into a space where people can share books and access free food.

Claire’s Cottage people and culture manager Julie Gerstel says the community response to the initiative, which launched two weeks ago, has been overwhelmingly positive.

“It’s been outside for about two weeks now and we definitely notice people accessing the library and leaving books,” Julie says.

“We had a chook pen lying around and we’d seen some other local initiatives with book libraries and food pantries and thought we would create our own.

"Our street library serves as an offering of books to those who may not have easy access to them.

"Meanwhile, our community pantry underneath ensures that no one in our neighbourhood goes hungry, providing essential food items to those in need."

Team work makes the dream work

Julie says cottage participants were involved in every step of the process, from concept designs to planning, measuring timber and hammering it all together.

“It took about six to eight weeks and everybody had a hand in some part of it all.

“It’s been a really nice project.”

Julie says so far, it’s been mainly families and support workers who have contributed non-perishable food to the pantry.

“We’d love to get other community members involved,” she says.

“Our participants are taking great pride in making sure everything’s looking great in the street library and replacing the food items in the pantry.”

Founder Claire McCourtie has two daughters with Cerebral Palsy and started Claire’s Cottage to fill a gap for young adults with a disability.

Support and respite

Launched as a social program that enabled adults with disability to socialise on their own terms, Claire’s Cottage now works with small groups to help them develop important life skills.

It also provides in-home support and short-term respite alongside its social programs.

“We have about 50 families that we look after and 45 support workers on staff – there’s a lot going on behind the scenes,” Julie explains.

“We started at The Gap, but Claire ended up getting a property at Ferny Hills that belonged to her son, who got posted elsewhere.

“It’s a residential house with day programs downstairs and respite accommodation upstairs.”

Variety of activities

Julie says Monday-Friday programs have between five and 10 participants and 20-30 support workers deliver in-home support each day.

“We do a combination of activities – we have a cooking program, an art program, we go to various community events, museums, art galleries – a real variety of activities.

“We predominantly work with young adults with intellectual disabilities but our oldest person is in her 60s.”

Project a win for everyone

Julie says while the street library and community pantry project has been beneficial for Claire’s Cottage participants, it’s also an important educational tool for the wider community.

“A lot of people think people with a disability can’t contribute to the community, or people with disabilities are unsure about how they can contribute.

“This has shown our participants are capable of helping other people.”

The street library and community pantry are at 29 Ferny Way, Ferny Hills.