"It was great to see the community coming together and enjoying the sunshine with the support from local organisations." This was taken from a social media post about the Community Brekky hosted by Tallangatta Neighbourhood House in late March.

"The Brekky was one of our Community Connection Events," said TNH Coordinator Katherine Lanigan. "It's one of a series of community gatherings designed to give all members of the community the opportunity to both reconnect and make new connections in an informal and relaxed setting."

Funded through the Network's Enabling Communities project, the breakfast was held in The Triangles, an area of parkland in the main street of Tallangatta.

"A number of community groups and services had information tables set up, and came in uniform and name tags so they were easily identifiable," said Katherine. "We encouraged them to mingle and chat with people about their organisation and its role in the community. We wanted people to have a better understanding of what services are available here in Tallangatta.

"The feedback from community has been wonderful and very encouraging. Around 350 people attended, with 18 community groups and services represented."

Another successful event was the Tallangatta Preparedness event.

"It was relatively simple to organise, and very effective," said Katherine. "We had tables set up outside the IGA supermarket in the main street, with emergency services representatives from CFA, SES and Red Cross ready to talk to community members about being prepared for emergencies.

"We also had 'go bags', information booklets and useful give-aways, such as wind up radios that don't need power to run, and USB sticks to save people's important documents.

Jessica Davison, Bushfire Recovery Officer from Red Cross, was very pleased to be part of such a well organised event. "Most importantly, people left saying they felt they had a better understanding about what to do in an emergency, which is a great result," she said after the event.