THE Bathurst Uniting Support Services (BUSS) is preparing for another 12 months of helping the most vulnerable in the community.
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Organisers and volunteers behind the BUSS programs gathered last week to review the previous year and come up with plans for 2022.
Throughout 2021, the focus of BUSS shifted to food programs.
Volunteers ran the Shelter Café at the Bathurst Uniting Church, but they also developed programs to help people learn how to prepare food for themselves at home.
Unfortunately, lockdowns prevented most of the sessions from running, but there is hope that they can go ahead this year.
"We had two programs, the Yes You Can program where we delivered food to homes with pictorial recipes. That seemed to go well. The other one, the Frying Pan Creations, we only got one [session] in but that went really well and we're looking forward to recommencing that," BUSS coordinator Julie Fry said.
The Shelter Café is set to reopen on Saturday, February 5, as agreed to at last week's planning meeting.
BUSS volunteers were also assisting with a drug and alcohol program and the team attended the meeting, sharing some positive feedback.
"I think the relationship with the drug and alcohol team continues to strengthen and I believe that's advantageous to both sides," Ms Fry said.
"I think it highlights how volunteer organisations can work quite well with government to support people that are doing it tough."
Prior to the meeting, a survey was conducted with BUSS volunteers to find out their thoughts about the various programs. The feedback was very positive.
"We're delighted that basically they are really enjoying it and they're still enthusiastic about the things we do and how we do them," Ms Fry said.
She said there should be plenty more volunteer opportunities coming up this year if others want to get involved.
Information will be posted on the BUSS Facebook page, which also has details about donating if people want to support programs that way.
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