Office news!

Great excitement amongst the staff here at the Vic Branch Office (yes, that means I am talking to myself again!) as plans fall into place for our imminent relocation to what we hope is our new, long term office premises!

For those new to the scene, the story so far: At Easter this year, the Victorian Branch Office Staff (me) vacated our office space within Head Office in East Malvern. This was due to expansion of Mother’s Direct into the space we rented at the rear of the warehouse. Because we were in State Government funding limbo at that time, we had no means to lease a new property, so “temporarily” set up business in my lounge room … from where the office has functioned for the past six months!

In July, we were finally advised of ongoing government funding and could begin the quest for a new premises. It had been recognised late last year that the ideal geographic location for our office would be in the Dandenong area, where ABA subscriber and volunteer numbers are low, while the need for breastfeeding support is high. Our vision became more than just an administrative office base – we planned to set up a community breastfeeding centre as a hub for not only our volunteers, but mothers and health professionals.

After a lot of red tape, we finally settled on our new address and – all being well – plan to relocate ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 4th!!!!!! Hopefully disruption to our services will be minimal, however there will be a period of a few days when Yvette will be in transit.

Phone, mail and email diversions will continue for some time, however our new street address is Suite 3/71 Robinson Street Dandenong 3175 and this will also be our new postal address. You can Google the address to see the location and if you choose street view, you can even see what it looks like!

The Office comprises a public space where we will hold meetings, classes and informal gatherings; a large office for admin activity and a smaller office which will provide storage and private breastfeeding space. Both male and female toilets are located within the suite and there is a small tea making area right in the public room. The office comes with two reserved parking spaces at the rear and access to our suite at the front is via an enclosed atrium walkway. There is no step to come from the car park to our office, apart from a small rise in the doorway. Two hour on street parking (free) is available in front of the building, while there is a paid all day cark park behind our building. This is $4 for the full day or 80c per hour between 8am and 6pm Monday to Saturday.

To enter the public car park or reserved parking area at the rear, enter Hemmings St from Robinson Street and enter Newton Lane or the car park beside it. Those travelling by foot can enter the office directly from Robinson St and there is a ramp for pram access to our door. Office hours will continue as 10am – 4pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and visitors are very welcome! The kids will love our more spacious facilities and the ever-popular toy collection! We hope to establish regular drop in days where volunteers from across the branch can visit to chat with local mums, as well as BECs, peer support training and more. Local group meetings, training sessions, breast pump hire and more will also be run from the office.

This is such an exciting time for our branch and we all look forward to showing off our new home! As always, it is an entirely separate entity from the Association’s national head office in East Malvern and we hope you will all visit. We are three minutes from the Dandenong exit on East Link and directly off Princes Highway, so nice and handy. It is walking distance to the Dandenong Market (Tues, Fri and Sat!) and we are already checking out the abundance of local cafes!

We need some extra furniture for this new venture, so if you know of a sofa, armchairs, shelving or cupboards that need a new home, give me a call! Oh, and I also need a vacuum cleaner and a kettleJ