June 28, 2019
Monty’s Place, Narooma goes Solar this week with a huge saving in electricity bills. This will allow Monty’s to give even more support to the guests at their community lunch which is held on Wednesday every week from 12.00 to 1.30pm at the Uniting Church Hall in Narooma. It will also benefit other community groups that use the church buildings.
At a Celebration on Friday 21 June, David Kelleher, the Chair of Monty’s Place, thanked the groups and individuals that contributed to this project. Mr Kelleher said “the incredible generosity of those involved in installing the solar system allows Monty’s Place to take a major step towards the sustainability of this weekly lunch that has become such an important event in Narooma each week”.
The South Coast Health and Sustainability Alliance (SHASA) contributed over $5,000 for the cost of the 18 solar panels and the inverter. SHASA is a not-for-profit community group dedicated to supporting the uptake of renewable energy in the Eurobodalla. The Chair of SHASA, Kathryn Maxwell, said how pleased SHASA was that the installation will save Monty’s Place about $2,000 per year in electricity bills as well as being positive for the climate by reducing carbon emissions”.
Mr Kelleher gave special thanks also to all those involved in the installation process. He said “Steve and Lisa Cornthwaite from Micro Energy Systems Australia (MESA) in Bodalla not only installed the solar panels and inverters, but had to completely replace aging wiring in the four church buildings. MESA provided all equipment at cost price as well as free labour, and on top of that, helped with paper work and approval processes. I must also thank Joe Dirt Excavations for an amazing job alongside MESA, digging trenches for the wiring”.
Mr Kelleher acknowledged the long-term close relationship between Monty’s Place and the Mt Dromedary Uniting Church Parish. He thanked the Parish for their very generous
contribution of $3,600 to enable the electrical upgrade and trenching required.
Monty’s Place is very grateful for the amazing generosity of the Narooma community over the last 5 years.
Monty’s Place welcomes on average 80 guests every week, with much higher numbers on special occasions. Everyone is welcome at Monty’s Place and many of Monty’s guests are in great need and value the good food and good company. Our guests are also supported with regular visits from Legal Aid, Anglicare and other service providers, and our wonderful volunteers provide a very yummy two course meal every week.