With its decoupage flooring, antique décor and retro furniture, Red Cliffs’ Good Golly café looks like it was plucked from the trendiest end of Brunswick. But take a step inside and there’s much more than meets the eye, as Teagan Bell discovers. Pictures: Carmel Zaccone
HOW do you make a difference to your small community? If you asked independent charity Diggerland Community Services (DCS), one answer would be with cake, coffee and café fare.
From the Good Golly café’s Ilex Street shopfront, a team of staff and dedicated volunteers are providing the Red Cliffs community with support programs for families, aged care and those with disability – one latte at a time.
“DCS started off as an organisation to run disability support programs, so we were just running this tiny organisation and then the opportunity to lease this shop came up,” DCS executive officer Kerryne McClelland says.
“So, we thought we might just run it as an op shop or something.
“That was about eight years ago and then we started serving tea and coffee, as a kind of training base for some of our clients with disability, so they could have some community interaction and learn hospitality skills.
“So, it has morphed from there.”
During its metamorphosis, Good Golly has been a gallery for artists with disability and a base for a number of other businesses to operate from, as well as a co-working space for hire and an antique shop.
What the café is becoming most well-known for, aside from its sausage rolls, however, is its weekly Story Time program, which Kerryne says was born out of community necessity and demand.
“It was pretty evident that there were a lot of parents and grandparents that were babysitting during the week that have nowhere to go and they feel really awkward when they go to a coffee shop,” Kerryne says.
“So, we wanted to make this a child-friendly space where the kids can run around and be safe and the women or men can sit and have a coffee and chat.
“Libby McBain comes in and dresses up as a princess and tells stories and we have a jumping castle we set up, so it’s been a great program for families in the community.”
And, as the café continues to grow into its own entity, Kerryne says its success is being felt further afield, in other support programs offered by DCS, such as their community pantry program, Tea and Toast, which is soon to be operating from the building next door.
“Good Golly has housed the community pantry up until this point,” Kerryne says.
“It started off as there were a lot of people that were in need and particularly because Red Cliffs has such a huge population of backpackers, so we decided that we’d run a food bank.
“So, if you have surplus produce or you want to buy some stuff to put in, you can put in with no questions asked, but also take out of it with no questions asked.
“As Good Golly has grown and become its own persona, though, people started to feel a bit uncomfortable so that’s why we’ve taken on the building next door.
“Ultimately, I want the whole Good Golly concept to grow to its full maturity, so as full as it can go, and then the profits from this will then facilitate other projects that will enhance the community.”
Those other projects include the Yardmen building and maintenance program, where DCS clients offer home improvement and landscaping services and the Home Valet service that offers cleaning, social support, meal preparation, shopping and more, as well as disability programs based on the NDIS.
“We also have a couple of other business names that are currently dormant and we’re just waiting to get those up and running as well,” Kerynne says.
“And that’s another part of our philosophy – we don’t want to duplicate something else that’s already out there and go in competition with somebody.
“If there’s a hole in the community, let’s try to fill that hole rather than produce things that are already out there.”
More than just operating as a successful social enterprise, Kerryne says the café is bringing out the best of Red Cliffs’ 6000-strong community.
“As a community, Red Cliffs is quite cohesive and has a vision to make itself better,” she says.
“This really has been a community effort and I wish I could take credit for everything, but I can’t take credit for much when you think about it.
“We very much appreciate the volunteer support that we get to run our programs and Good Golly is just one of them.”
And although the café is slowly making a name for itself in Sunraysia, Kerryne says they’re taking things one step at a time.
“I know to a large extent that we’ve been Red Cliffs’ best kept secret because we’re only growing as we can grow,” she says.
“We’re not trying to force the growth; we’re not going out and getting big bank loans so that we can promote and get top quality chefs.
“We’re just doing what we can with what we’ve got and that’s enough.”
