COMMUNITY
When you’ve been around for over 140 years, it’s fair to say you’re a strong part of the community. Way beyond supplying hardware and building materials, Hume & Iser is a destination for people to come to seek advice and share ideas.
Many of our staff have developed friendships with many of our loyal customers. In a retail world dominated by large chains, Hume & Iser Mitre 10 showcases the enduring strength of an independent local business.
Hume & Iser generously support community organizations, non-profit groups, sporting teams, local charities, and individuals who need assistance.
Hume & Iser is a major supporter of Blokes Biggest Ever Lunch, Food Share, Mens Shed, Bendigo Braves, Bgo East Bowls, and swimming clubs, to mention a few.
RED ENERGY ARENA & BENDIGO BRAVES BASKETBALL CLUB
https://bendigobasketball.com.au/braves/
https://redenergyarena.com.au/
Hume & Iser is a proud partner of the Bendigo Braves / Red Energy Arena, which has existed for over twenty-plus years. We were the major sponsors when the Braves won the 2005 SEABL and ABA National Championships. We enjoy this partnership because we are both community-focused, and both organisations have been a part of Bendigo for a long period.
Hume & Iser uses the large number of people who pass through this venue daily to advertise and promote our business. We also use Basketball game days to reward and entertain guests.
Both businesses combine many times a year to promote special events on the calendar, such as Father’s Day.
Bendigo Basketball now has the reputation of being a powerhouse of Australian basketball. At the junior and senior levels, Bendigo players and teams have shone. The Bendigo Braves entered the SEABL in 1985 as the first Country Association representative and immediately successfully attracted community support. They won a national championship in 1988. The Braves went one better in 2005 by winning the ABA National finals and the South Conference final.
The Lady Braves culminated their dominance of Victorian Country basketball by also stepping up to become National Champions in 2001. This was followed by another National ABA title in 2003.
The Bendigo Sports and Entertainment Group was formed as Bendigo Stadium Ltd in 1989 as the management and financial arm of the Bendigo Basketball Association. The initial role of BSEG was to take up a lease on the West Bendigo Recreation Reserve and to take responsibility of the loan funding to extend the West Bendigo Stadium from 2 to 5 courts in creating the New Schweppes Centre.
BSEG is a not-for-profit community-based organisation also operating as a licensed Club with the primary function of providing the management for the operation of the Bendigo Schweppes Centre. Built onto the original West Bendigo Stadium the new Schweppes Centre provided expanded facilities from 1991 to meet the growing demand for indoor sporting facilities in the Bendigo region.
In 2003 the completion of the $4.8m Schweppes Centre development has taken the home of Bendigo basketball to a higher level – 7 courts and first-class facilities for all members. In 2014 the local domestic competition has 385 teams, the Junior Braves 19 teams and Senior Braves 4 teams.
In 2022 a new look took shape. New naming rights partner Red Energy came on board, rebranding Bendigo Stadium to Red Energy Arena. After significant developments in 2019 and a new main court arena it is now the largest indoor stadium in regional Victoria, with over 10,000 people come through the doors each week for basketball activities.
2023 saw the Champions IGA Braves Women go through the NBL1 season and National tournament undefeated, an achievement no one has ever seen in the competition.
MOUNT PLEASANT FOOTBALL & NETBALL CLUB
https://mountpleasantfnc.wixsite.com/mountpleasantfnc
Hume & Iser is proud to be associated with the Mount Pleasant Football Netball Club, a family-friendly club affiliated with the Heathcote & District Football Netball League.
Mount Pleasant Football Netball Club is not just a football club but a way of life.
From its humble beginnings in 1889 to now, our club has always been about providing a place for families, friends, and locals to come after a long week working or raising children to enjoy a recreational day out with their mates, socialise, and feel connected to something bigger. Saturday footy and netball have always been sacred to us; they are the lifeblood of our community.
Their home ground is the Toolleen Recreation Reserve, which is about 40km from Bendigo via Axedale on the Cornella-Toolleen Road.
Hume & Iser prides itself on supporting community-minded organisations that put back into the community.
BENDIGO FOOSHARE
https://bendigofoodshare.org.au/
Hume & Iser is proud to be associated with FoodShare and support their cause.
Bendigo Foodshare was officially established as an independent charity on 11 April 2013. Over the past decade, with the help of around 500 volunteers, we have distributed around 8 million kilograms of food.
The history of organised food relief in Victoria dates to the 1930s when the State Relief Committee was formed to aid Victorians in need during the Great Depression.
Food relief assists people of all ages and backgrounds – men, women, children, older adults, students and families – who are experiencing food insecurity.
During the early days, the newly formed committee visited country areas to provide goods and food and support regional organisations established as local aid collection and distribution points.
From town ball fundraisers, jam-making drives and thriving social auxiliary groups to local farmers scouring their orchards to donate excess fruit, country areas have always looked after their own.
MENS SHED BENDIGO
Hume & Iser have long been associated with Bendigo’s Men’s Shed movement. They donate discontinued lines, overstocks, damaged timbers, and panels, to name a few. These donations are turned into meaningful objects that support the Bendigo community.
Most men have learned from our culture that they don’t talk about feelings and emotions, and many do not take an interest in their health and well-being.
Unlike women, most men are reluctant to talk about their feelings, so they usually don’t ask for help. Probably because of this, many men are less healthy than women, drink more, take more risks and suffer more from isolation, loneliness and depression.
Relationship breakdown, retrenchment or early retirement from a job, loss of children following divorce, and physical or mental illness are just some of the problems that men may find difficult to deal with alone. Good health is based on many factors, including feeling good about yourself, being productive, contributing to your community, connecting with friends, and maintaining an active body and mind.
Becoming a member of a Men’s Shed provides a safe and busy environment where men can find many of these things in an atmosphere of old-fashioned mateship. And, importantly, there is no pressure.
Men can just come and have a yarn and a cuppa if that is all they want. Members of Men’s Sheds come from all walks of life – the bond that unites them is that they are men with time on their hands and would like something meaningful to do with that time.
A good Men’s Shed has a Management Committee that has developed a safe and happy environment where men are welcome to work on community projects, specific Men’s Shed projects or a project of their choice in their own time and where the only ‘must’ is to observe safe working practices….all in a spirit of mateship.
The Men’s Shed movement has become one of the most powerful tools in addressing health and wellbeing and helping men become valued and productive members of our community.
BENDIGO'S BIGGEST EVER BLOKES LUNCH
Since returning to Hume & Iser in 2021 our CEO David Pontell and Sales Manager Paul Woolley have played a lead roles on the committee of the BBEL, which is a community event held every November to raise funds to fight prostate cancer.
A large part of our sponsorship budget goes towards this event
Hume & Iser has a considerable trade customer base dominated by males, who generally won't discuss their health openly; this event is designed to encourage males to talk about their health and, more importantly, get tested. The end goal is to fund our prostate nurse to care for males with prostate cancer.
Vision: A future where no man dies of prostate cancer and Australian men and their families get the support they need.
Mission: To reduce the burden of prostate cancer for all Australians, mobilising the community to drive research, prevention and early detection, improved treatment, and world-class psychosocial care.
Our focus:
1) To be Australia’s leading charity fund for Australian-based prostate cancer research.
2) Protect the health of existing and future generations of men in Australia.
3) To improve the quality of life for Australian men diagnosed with prostate cancer and their families.
HUME & ISER ARE PROUD TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE FOLLOWING COMMUNITY GROUPS:
