From Little Acorn big things will grow

Published on 27 September 2023

The Little Acorn café in Terang will double its capacity and extend its menu and hours with a $350,000 redevelopment to start next week.

Janice Harris, CEO of café operator Cooinda, said the café would close in November and reopen in January.

“The first month, October is mainly going to be outside works. Then in November-December we’ll have to close because they’ll be knocking out walls and changing the roofline,” Ms Harris said.

“Hopefully will be reopening in mid-January. We close over that Christmas-early January period anyway.”

Part of the adjacent playground will be sectioned off during the works for safety.

Cooinda leased the former Maternal and Child Health Centre from Corangamite Shire Council in 2016 and converted it into the café; taking out walls and carpet and installing an oven, counter and other fittings.

“At the moment we’ve got a commercial kitchen based at Cooinda, so we do all the food preparation and the cooking there and then transport it all down here,” Ms Harris said.

“With these planned renovations we’ll actually have a commercial kitchen here.

“It will have accessibility for a wheelchair. We'll have low benches and things like that so people in wheelchairs can help with the meal prep and cooking.

“We'll have an accessible toilet, more seating area and decking area that will overlook the lake. It’ll be a beautiful outlook.”

Ms Harris said the improvements would allow the café to open for extended hours.

“We plan to open on Sundays to have cooked breakfasts. That's a real need for Terang,” she said.

“It will mean more participants can be involved as well, in hospitality or cooking and food preparation.

“The local community has been really supportive, so it’s been a success. This is just building on from that.”

About 20 participants work at the café, some doing a morning or afternoon a couple of days a week.

“We’re not an employment agency,” Ms Harris said.

“It’s basically learning and skills which has led to people getting open employment in other establishments.

“It’s really about teaching people skills and they’ve got to have the opportunity to have those socially valued roles of being able to work and really engage with the local community.

“They’re very proud of what they do. To be able to serve customers and have that interaction is really positive.”

The redevelopment is funded by Cooinda with $100,000 from Council.

Mayor Ruth Gstrein said Council was pleased to support the project.

“Council is committed to nurturing a connected, thriving community so supporting great initiatives like the Little Acorn really is a no-brainer.

“The main focus of Council’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan is to remove barriers to community life for people with disability. Co-operating with Cooinda is one way to do that.

“The café gives the participants an opportunity to stretch themselves, build friendships and enjoy something they might not otherwise have the chance to do.”

Cooinda provides a quality range of services to adults with a disability and their families in the Terang and Camperdown communities.

Its mission is to build of a socially inclusive community where people of all abilities are engaged and valued.