It all started in 1981 when about 35 residents and community nurses met to bring together individuals and small groups who were helping residents in the Lapstone to Warrimoo area in a variety of ways. Their aim was to develop a more co-operative and organised approach to meet local residents’ needs.

From that meeting in June 1981, Lower Mountains Community Aid started, operating as a completely volunteer service with a kitty of $17.00. Funding for staff was secured from the Department of Community Services about 2 years later.

From those days many services for older people who are frail, or people with a disability, were developed and continue on until today. For example, projects that were created, launched and later became separately incorporated, included Riding for the Disabled, Mt. Riverview Youth Recreation organisation, Lapstone Out of School Hours service, Blaxland Family Day care, to name but a few.

Community Aid became incorporated as a Neighbourhood Centre in 1992 and has gone from strength to strength, continuing to develop a broad range of projects, support groups, courses, workshops and community events whilst maintaining a variety of practical volunteer community service and providing community information, referrals, and advocacy for Lapstone to Warrimoo residents. This is in addition to ongoing training and support for a huge variety of volunteer service and training opportunities.

Staff over the years have found it very rewarding to support and mobilise all the goodwill and commitment involved in such an exemplary record of volunteer care and service to others in need. They have found that these are the key elements that have produced a friendly and reliable atmosphere that encourages self-help, which in turn encourages people in need to feel comfortable to access local services.

From all the feedback received, it’s obvious these services are very much appreciated by members of our community, particularly by housebound, isolated people with limited mobility.

BUT THAT’S NOT WHERE IT ENDS… Centre staff and management have discovered that even if people do have some kind of physical or other challenge, they’re still eager to find a way to contribute to their community, and that has resulted in us finding a whole band of frantic 'home knitters' out there. So for the last 2 years we’ve been acting as a collection and distribution point for donated mountains of wool, knitted thousands of squares and produced hundreds of blankets for an overseas and Australia-wide aid project called 'Wrap with love'. Just another great example of… 'every little bit helps!'