For the fifth year, the AIG team relocated to Barunga last weekend to assist the Bagala Community Store and Laundry to serve the 3500+ festival goers during the Barunga Festival.
The team worked around the clock turning our hand to anything required of us, to ensure the Bagala Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) could meet the demands of the influx of visitors to the Barunga community.
The store experienced strong sales and ran smoothly throughout the event turning over $124,000. The success was a credit to the Bagala Store and AIG teams who worked tirelessly; a shout out to the Bagala crew: Deb, Clarette, Cameron, Kiwa, Carlos and Shaun.
The Bagala Laundry was inundated with free washing offered to all festival goers on top of the normal community demand, ticking over 100 cycles on Saturday and Sunday alone. In addition, healthy skin and heart yarns were held at the laundry and the Heart Foundation stall which once again attracted the attention of ministers and high-profile guests.
It was an extra special festival weekend for our team, as we reflected on the past eight years of our business support services partnership with BAC, with them in their final steps of a two-year transition strategy to see all operations and management move back to the community under the direction of the BAC Board.
We are proud to assist BAC in taking this important step. AIG’s service delivery model is not one where we embed ourselves into community operations in perpetuity, rather it is our goal to listen, support and advise with permission, empower and educate, and then transition to local management and operation.
We look forward to returning to the Barunga Festival in 2025 as spectators!
