“Good in the Hood” is your local volunteer organisation that unlocks the kindness and power of our neighbourhood to give back to our residents.

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Focused on addressing the challenges arising from social isolation and loneliness, our mission is to create a truly inclusive community that ensures all know they are valued, supported, and recognized.

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The community program began in March 2020 when Marco De Angelis, owner of Our Place on Darling restaurant, contacted Vinnies Rozelle and offered to provide 20 meals free of charge to residents who were doing it tough.

 

With the help of Vinnies and Rozelle Neighbourhood Centre, 20for1 (as it was originally known) expanded the program by managing volunteers, identifying more locals needing support and providing management and logistics help. 

 

From a small beginning, a wide range of restaurants, cafes and specialty food stores in the Balmain, Birchgrove, Rozelle and Lilyfield areas are now on board and the community continues to grow, currently delivering over 280 meals plus hampers and snacks every week to people doing it tough in our neighbourhood.

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But what started as a food delivery program revealed much more.

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Despite a thriving and mostly affluent community, issues with loneliness, social isolation, and community inequality were revealed.

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A complex issue, and causes many, symptoms such as living alone, having few to no children or contact with family, being of low income, lacking access to transport, and having a compromised health status or multiple health problems were common-place. For our elder residents the issue simply magnified. 

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Somehow despite being surrounded, people often felt isolated and alone.

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We sought to understand and do more

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