Berrimba Childcare Centre will be celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and is inviting the community to help celebrate the milestone.

The childcare centre was first opened in 1990, after launching as a playgroup in the early 80s, and has seen major growth over the past few years.

Berrimba early years manager Koralynn Dodd said Berrimba Childcare was one of few Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations that had reached 40 years.

“Njernda is an ACCO and we’re run under them in the childcare sector and I don’t think there's many that have been going for 40-plus years,” she said.

“I went here as a child and I used to work here casually in 2019... I feel really lucky and absolutely love my job and the work that we do for community.

“I always explain Berrimba as a family, we’ve got multiple people here who are staff that also came here as children... we also have cousins and siblings all throughout the centre so everyone’s connected and it’s very personal.”

The childcare centre began as a playgroup in the early 80s by Aunty Melva Johnson and Aunty Val Mitchell, providing Aboriginal children a safe space to socialise and to maintain a connection to culture.

The playgroup was initially run once a week in the Echuca Church of Christ Hall, with one mum in charge of cooking lunch and other mums running activities.

Eventually, Aunty Melva’s daughter, the late Kerry Johnson, lobbied the Uniting Church for a space to hold the playgroup.

In 1985, the church donated the building which would later become the Berrimba Childcare Centre formally in 1990.

When it opened, it had a capacity for 25 children but after renovations in 2013, the childcare centre can now cater to 51 students.

Today, the Berrimba Childcare Centre still remains in the same building at 94 Hare St.

Ms Dodd said the 40th-year celebration arrived at a great time as this year’s NAIDOC Week theme, ‘The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy’, was relevant to the childcare sector.

“This year's NAIDOC theme has a strong early years message... it’s really important because our early years (students) are the next generation,” she said.

“If we can give them the best start and do everything we can now, hopefully we’ll have a better generation to come and stronger kids who know who they are and their identity.”

The plans for the anniversary are still in the early stages with more details to come.

If anyone would like to help out, they can contact Koralynn Dodd on 0461 473 628 or email koralynnd@njernda.com.au

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