GLENROI residents will have a new place to get fit thanks to $40,000 worth of resistance fitness equipment for the Cootes Access Centre paid for by the state government.
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The grant received by the managers of the centre, CareWest, was the largest project to be funded out of the $102,782 allocated to Orange in the Community Building Partnership program.
CareWest community engagement manager Lesa Dunn said the money would be used to purchase outdoor exercise equipment for children, teenagers and adults similar to the resistance equipment in Moulder Park.
“We’re really excited about it,” she said.
“It means more infrastructure for children and youth in the area.”
The centre is home to after-school homework activities on Tuesdays with children and young people benefiting from a community technology centre, reading assistance, sports and afternoon tea, Ms Dunn said.
“It’s open to anybody at all, it’s a free resource for the public,” she said.
The decision to branch into exercise equipment came from members of the public speaking to the centre’s volunteers.
“We’ve had lots of teens and adults approach us about exercise classes,” she said.
CareWest signed a three-year lease to take on the centre and save it from closure last year.
More than one year on, Ms Dunn said the agreement between Orange City Council and Housing NSW was working well.
“It’s run by community volunteers,” she said.
“We’re repainting the walls with the original artist coming back to freshen it up.”
A location for the exercise equipment is yet to be decided, but Ms Dunn expects it to be up and running by Easter after extensions to the centre including a bigger meeting area and kitchen are finished in the new year.