THE Queanbeyan Multicultural Centre has been serving the community for more than 44 years but acting centre manager Sethu Kannan says this year’s lockdowns have seen staff at some of their busiest.

Where normally the not-for-profit organisation would be offering English classes, social groups, referral services, excursions and festivals, all face-to-face for Queanbeyan’s diverse multicultural community, Ms Kannan says covid restrictions have meant providing support from home.

“We’ve had so many calls, it’s been very, very busy,” she says.

“Last year when covid started our offices were open but this year lockdown restrictions are so strict that all our staff are working from home supporting the community.

“It’s heartbreaking to listen to some of our clients, so many are impacted by what’s going on and not being able to go out.

“A lot of people just want someone to talk to and at least that’s something we can give them at this time.”

Ms Kannan says senior citizens of Queanbeyan’s multicultural community are particularly feeling the impact of the pandemic.

“We have some very vulnerable clients in the community and we are doing regular check-ins via the phone,” she says.

“This could be to help them with setting up a GP appointment or linking them with support services.

“Many seniors don’t have smart phones so are struggling with checking in to businesses so we’ve been doing lots of work with the newly introduced NSW check-in cards just in case they need to go out.”

She also says employment is proving a big area of need for the multicultural community.

“We have many clients asking if we can help them with employment and some of our local shop owners have been fantastic,” says Ms Kannan.

“I recently had a chat with one of our restaurant owners who was able to offer some jobs to clients in this time.”

From today (August 25) Ms Kannan says the organisation will be providing the community with some online activities to stay active and occupied.

“We’ve found some of our younger, middle-age clients are in need of some activity, especially with school running from home they may need a break from everything,” she says.

“Today we are starting our first online yoga session and tomorrow we are starting our Bollywood workout dance and we’re also going to be doing Zumba and a little bit of meditation.”

As English speaking classes have also been disrupted for many, Ms Kannan says they’re working on setting up an online program to continue teaching in the near future.

“Prior to lockdown we had two advanced classes run by our wonderful volunteer, a retired high school English teacher and she’s been volunteering for more than 20 years,” says Ms Kannan.

“Now we are planning to set up an online program so these classes can continue.”

For more information call 6297 6110 or visit qmlc.org.au