AU – Lunch at Oakleigh Centre, Melbourne

The Oakleigh Centre in Melbourne’s southeast provides not only specialised and innovative support to its many clients, but also a great place to hang out with the regulars on a sunny Saturday. This popular support centre for those with primarily intellectual disabilities, aims to enhance quality of life, and encourage those it supports to achieve maximum independence and community involvement.

October 24th 2015 dawned with great weather (forecasted by Greg – the in-house weatherman), creating the perfect atmosphere for the centre’s awareness event. The smoothly organised day began with an information session, tours and morning tea followed by an exciting variety of activities to brighten everyone’s day. Volunteers from RRT’s Melbourne division were on-site to provide lunch.

The RRT Set-up, on the landscaped lawn Burgers and sausages on bread were on the menu

While many were getting decked out in balloon hats and singing with ‘Elvis Presley’, the RRT enjoyed the experience of serving up burgers and sausages to a couple of hundred very grateful and friendly customers. Lunch on the lawn was an event to be remembered, with music and dancing (thank you Elvis) interacting with carers, clients, family (and caterers), it was a day thoroughly enjoyed by all.

It’s not every day one gets the opportunity to serve Elvis Elvis entertaining everyone

It was fantastic to see everyone mingling freely in an obviously caring environment, recounting thrilling visits to the fire station, signing autograph books and watching a DVD of the centre’s plans to improve and move forward.

Oakleigh Centre’s Open Day was a roaring success and RRT wishes them all the best with their developments

The upcoming major development of five new supported homes had the centre buzzing with excitement. This much-anticipated project will see 30 residents move from congregate care to supported living with spaces designed to improve privacy and independence. With this – and other projects to improve clients’ quality of life – a large focus on the day, the Oakleigh Centre is very grateful for any support.