Welcome to Our House

This year Our House was one of the recipients of funds raised from Ballina’s Food and Wine Fair and what a wonderful event it was for residents of the Northern Rivers.

Held over three days, participants enjoyed fabulous wine, food and entertainment by local exhibitors, information sessions, and cooking demonstrations. All of this added up to a great recipe for success and the Food and Wine Fair was named in the top 13 of Food and Wine Festivals around Australia.

This wonderful event donates to local charities and this year Our House was the beneficiary of a tremendous donation of $15,000.

Thank you to Col Lee who heads up the committee from the Rotary Club of Ballinaon- Richmond. Club members work hard to host this fabulous event for our region and also raise vital charity funds.

Photo - from right to right to left: Rebecca Zentveld, Col Lee, Wendy Marsh, Rebekka Battista

Each year the Sanctuary Village in Lennox host a Christmas Spectacular and this year they also organised an Art Show for Our House.

Once again they have donated the proceeds to help those who are undergoing hardship to stay at Our House.

To John, to those who lit up their homes, to the great artists among you and to those who went along and enjoyed the event, thank you!

At the recent Friendship Dinner hosted by the Quota Club of Casino, ladies gathered from across the region.

Rebekka Battista was the guest speaker and Quota generously donated $1000 to Our House and another $500 to Our Kids.

Thank you ladies for your amazing efforts in the community and helping us continue to do what we do.

The Tuesday and Thursday BBQ dinners at Our House have been amazing with many groups helping to make these evening events happen. When one guest was asked recently about what they loved about Our House, the reply was: ‘The kindness & hospitality of staff and those who come in to provide for the community BBQ dinner - absolutely amazing!!’

Thank you to all our BBQ Teams and those volunteers who shop, cook and organise the people on the ground. We could not do this without you and special thanks to Lords Taverners Australia who help each week with the administration of our volunteer teams.

Tuesday Night BBQ Teams
3x Lords Taverners teams, WCA Accountants, Goonellabah Rotary, Laser Plumbing, Ray White Lismore, CBA Business Banking, Goonellabah Medical Centre, Alstonville/Wollongbar Quota, QBE, Watts Group, Southern Cross Presbyterian Church and The Cherries team

Thursday Night BBQ Teams
6 x Lords Taverners teams, 4 x Trinity College teams, Summerland Sunrise Rotary, Sommerville Laundry Lomax, Clunes RFB, Lismore Lions, Lismore City Lions, The Happy Cooks, Southern Cross Presbyterian Church, Casino Cavaliers, Professional Real Estate and Mahjong Mafia.

This year Kyogle hosted a Bowls Day which saw many people gather to play bowls, buy raffle tickets and enjoy a really terrific day at the Kyogle Bowls Club. The day’s proceeds came to Our House.

Pictured is Kyogle Bowls Club President and members of the Quota Club of Kyogle who are always supportive of Our House and host a fantastic Friendship Dinner for all to attend.

At the Classics for Cancer event, more than $8,500 was raised for both Our House and Crankin’ Cancer. A huge thanks to the musicians who gave up their time to perform, it was magical.

To Helen Spurgeon who hosted and managed the event, thank you so much, you are a joy to work with and we hope this turns into an annual event.

To North Coast Radiology, thank you for donating $5000, this is such a fabulous gift and much appreciated. To those who attended, thank you for coming and being a part of such a great event and being so generous.

We look forward to next year.

Now in its fourth year, Our House has just checked out their 3000th guest: Chris and Lesley Bennett. After staying for seven weeks the Bennetts head home to Ashby Heights, but have vowed to return to Lismore.

“We were blown away by how much this community cares for those undergoing treatment. It is outstanding.Our House links the hospital to the community which helped me through my treatment,” Chris said.

Our House loved having you stay with us, Lesley and Chris, and congratulations on being our 3000th guest.

Our House is a place where many stories come to light and intertwine.

Our House is the purpose built accommodation for patients coming to Lismore for medical treatment. Since its opening it has accommodated more than 2500 guests from across the region - from Ballina to Glen Innes, from Coffs Harbour to Tweed Heads.

The story of Ray Hayes, a resident of Grafton, has been one of many Our House stories that encourage people to be proactive about their health. Ray’s story also highlights how much our community is connected.

The Northern Co-operative Meat Company Ltd (NCMC) is a local meat company with a long tradition in quality manufacture, marketing and distribution of the finest food products to the world. It’s also a very community minded company. Our House has just received the last of the $110,000 pledge that NCMC generously gave to help Our House when it was being built. This latest donation of $26,250 happened to arrive during Ray’s stay.

Ray told us that he couldn’t believe the generosity of the people in this area.

“I’m staying in the Casino Meat Works (NCMC) room, and knowing one of the Directors of the company I feel so proud. The Casino Meat Works gave $110,000 so that a lift could be installed for guests. Then when I learnt they also gave $25,000 in seed funding to this project I was just beside myself, particularly as I work with stock feed and know the farmers who are part of the Meat Works,” said Ray.

NCMC Chairman John Seccombe said meeting Ray and hearing his story was uplifting. “We have 1300 members like Ray based in rural communities and supporting Our House has been a great opportunity to give back to them,” said John.

Ray, who has been a guest at Our House for nine weeks, is an absolute salt of the earth person and has an attitude second to none. “I found out about Our House through the hospital. It just seemed so logical to stay at Our House for treatment instead of doing a four hour round trip each day,” Ray said. “I thought Our House was a motel, but it is so much more. The facility and all that happens here nearly blew me clear off the perch.”

Ray was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer through a routine B double licence medical test. The blood test showed an elevated PSA and it was confirmed that he needed treatment. “Radiation worried me the most, but now I understand the process and understand how it all works, and it is all good,” said Ray.

Staying at Our House has been one of the highlights during Ray’s period of treatment.

One of our favourite guests blessed Our House with an incredible donation after her family story was told in a national magazine.

Marg, thank you for your great donation, the team misses your laughter and stories.

While in Port Macquarie for a conference, Our House Manager Ruth took the opportunity to pop in to see one of our wonderful donors who has been supporting us ever since we started to build…

it was such a joy to meet Janette.