‘Help never far away’: What makes communities strong?
In tough times, do you have a strong network in your community that you could rely on?
As the Glass House Mountains community prepared for Christmas last year, disaster struck.
Severe storms and flooding felled trees, cut power and left parts of the community stranded for days.
Yet Glasshouse Mountains Community Hall President David Aubrey knew he could count on his community.
“When severe weather strikes everyone in our immediate area, we check that people are safe, they’ve got food, fuel for generators, or whether they need help getting trees off fences or the road,” Mr Aubrey said.
“We let everyone know where the roads are flooded and if someone’s able to get to the shops, we check if anyone needs anything.
“When we have strong connections, our problems are shared and we know help is never far away.”
Do you have a strong network in your community that you could rely on?
A strong community in tough times
Increasing community connection and resilience is one of five outcomes in Sunshine Coast Council’s refreshed Community Strategy 2019-2041 and supporting Community Strategy Action Plan 2024-2029.
It updates the existing strategy and presents a new action plan for the next five years.
The strategy seeks to build strong communities that are connected and resilient; healthy and well; vibrant; inclusive; and creative and innovative.
It is one of Council’s three regional strategies, alongside the Regional Economic Development Strategy and the Environment and Liveability Strategy.
In implementing the strategy, Council provided disaster management training to the Glass House Mountains Disaster Management Network and delivered the We Recover Better Together project, funded by the Queensland and Australian governments, in five hinterland communities in Glass House Country.
This project focused on the importance of building social connections and neighbourhood/street level connections to call on in times of need.
We recover better together
At Christmas time, the Community Hall hosted the Glass House Community Christmas Party, a joint venture of the Neighbourhood Centre, Rural Fire Service, Cavalry Lutheran and Glass House Uniting Churches.
Multiple storms lashed the area on the day and power had been cut for days, but organisers refused to give in at a time when community connection and morale was most important.
“We pushed on with the food, entertainment, Santa on the fire truck and carols literally by candlelight,” Mr Aubrey said.
“It’s these connections that create these communities where we feel safe, reduce loneliness and prepare for any adversity that’s thrown at us.
“A community will thrive when we have enough people who are connected and feel ‘this is where I live and belong – I’m proud to call this place home’.”
A time to build community connection
As we roll into both the festive season and storm season, now is the perfect time to strengthen our community connections and prepare for hazards.
The following actions were suggested by the community in contributing to the refreshed Community Strategy:
- Build stronger relationships with our neighbours
- Hold a neighbourhood Christmas party to get to know our neighbours
- Participate in local events and activities
- Put together an emergency plan for our household to prepare for different scenarios
- Learn about different risks in our neighbourhood.