Hobsons Bay Community Fund last week held its ninth annual grants night at Altona’s Kooringal Golf Club, with 11 organisations sharing $30,678 in the fund’s largest ever grant pool.
Hobsons Bay Men’s Shed, which received $2000 to buy software and equipment for its Future Creation Workshop, was an example of a grass roots organisation using a small amount of money to change lives.
Committee member Bill McPherson said the grant would be used to help the Millennial generation – those born in the early 1980s to early 2000s – develop their computer skills for employment.
Other grant recipients include:
• Yooralla West Children’s Services [$5000] for a specialist therapy group for very
young children with a disability or developmental delay.
• Altona Primary School Parents Association [$3920] to run a 10-week drama program for students with autism and/or a learning or physical disability.
• Women’s Health West [$5000] to provide family violence survivors at a women’s refuge with clothing, food and other items.
• Royal Yacht Club of Victoria [$2700] to run CPR courses, and “discover sailing” days for Altona Meadows Primary School pupils.
• Friends of Skeleton Creek [$1000] to revegetate three sites at Altona Meadows.
• Anxiety Disorders Association of Victoria [$2958] and Macedonian Women’s Senior Citizens Group Altona North [$600] to hold seminars.
• Newport Senior Citizens Centre [$1000] to provide musical entertainment for residents.
• Laverton Park Tennis Club [$4500] to install a shade cloth.
• Gellibrand Support Services, Williamstown [$2000] to build a sensory and flower garden for its clients with the aim for them to sell plants, flowers and produce at farmers markets.
In nine years, the fund has provided more than $120,000 in grants to 55 community groups. Kooringal Golf Club joined Signcraft, Qenos, Compton Green, UMS and Star Weekly as a corporate supporter.
