Expect more mouth-watering smells to come wafting out of Port Douglas Neighbourhood Centre now that they’ve picked up a new oven courtesy of Bendigo Bank. 

Staff and volunteers from the centre and the bank held a small afternoon tea to celebrate the launch of the oven, worth about $3500, and auction off several items for the Starlight Children’s foundation. 

The items included a gift pack put together by various local businesses, a dinner for two at Sheraton and a reef trip on Quicksilver. 

They were auctioned off by Bendigo Bank FNQ regional manager Tony Jensen and sold for a total of $380. 

Centre committee secretary Annie Richardson, who originally pushed for the oven when Bendigo Bank held a community forum last October, said the appliance would be of great assistance to the centre.

“The oven’s going to enable us to give back to the community more,” she said.

“It’ll also make the centre a more attractive place to hire out for social events, the money we earn from that can be put to use helping the community.”

Port Douglas Neighborhood Centre provides emergency relief, counselling and assistance to vulnerable people in the community, including new parents.

Mr Jensen said the launch of the oven coincided with Bendigo Bank launching the community cook-off fundraising concept, in which each bank branch will organise a public cooking event to raise money. 

The Douglas branch is hoping to hold its barbecue-themed event on July 31. 

Mr Jensen said the afternoon tea was a heartwarming event.

“It’s a great response we’ve had here today and it’s also great to see these other items be auctioned and raise even more money for Starlight Foundation.”

Bendigo Bank Port Douglas branch manager Helen D Ross said the auction had already doubled the fundraising target for the day.

Douglas Shire Council mayor Julia Leu also attended the afternoon tea and said both organisations were helping the less fortunate in the community. 

“There’s a bit of an impression that everyone in Douglas is wealthy,” she said. 

“This isn’t necessarily the case and it’s great to see places like the Neighbourhood Centre helping people help themselves, and Bendigo Bank helping them do that.”