Neighbourhood centre re-brands as Maitland Region Community Support

Their new name, Maitland Region Community Support (MRCS), reflects what they do best - providing support to the Maitland community.

MRCS celebrated their new name, new logo and more than 35 years of service to the community with a special launch event on Tuesday, September 6 at Rutherford Community Centre.

About 80 people gathered to celebrate the organisation's hard work, including Member for Maitland Jenny Aitchison, representatives from Maitland City Council, staff from Early Links and Mai-Wel, and members of the Rotary Club of Maitland Sunrise.

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There was plenty of cake, cookies, face paint, coffee and a sausage sizzle to help celebrate the new name.

Manager at Maitland Region Community Support Sarah Adams said the organisation's name has been changed because they offer so much more than a traditional neighbourhood centre.

"We offer community support and that's in many different ways, we offer social support, we offer financial support, we offer food assistance," she said.

"We offer a lot of different types of support to the community, rather than just a drop-in center for people to come and say hello."

The new name also confirms they cater for the entire region, not just one area.

Ms Adams said in the organisation's 35 years of servicing the community, she is proud it has become a pillar of the community.

"People come to us when they are at a bit of a loss and don't really know where else to go, we offer information and referral so we know a lot of different services in the region, we've got three JPs as well," she said.

The best part of MRCS, according to Ms Adams, is the people.

"It's the people that we work with, it's the people that we get to assist, it's the thank yous, it's the hellos, it's the smiles, the tears," she said.

Member for Maitland Jenny Aitchison said the amount of work MRCS does in the community is incredible.

"I love that the new name is support, because it's really talking about that joint relationship with people, it's actually supporting people in our community who are in need, they do amazing work," she said.

"We work with them a lot on Share the Dignity, on school backpacks, and toy drives at Christmas, particularly.

"They really are the peak support organisation in Maitland, and they have such good relationships with other service providers. That's where you get a really strong community centre, when everyone's working together for the same goals."

Ms Aitchison said it was great to see the community out supporting MRCS after the last couple of years of COVID-19 restrictions.

"They've been doing amazing jobs through the pandemic, but I think it's nice to have this, hopefully it's a bit of a line under that and they can just go on, bigger and better, and stronger," she said.