The Hobsons Bay Community Fund is helping asylum seekers stay warm and empowering women against family violence, with nearly $40,000 awarded to 13 grassroots organisations in its latest annual funding round.
The philanthropic trust fund, now in its 10th year, has $650,000 and uses the interest to benefit the community by awarding small grants.
Grant recipients announced last week include West Welcome Wagon whose $1600 will provide blankets and clothes to asylum seekers in Hobsons Bay, and the Australian Arabic Women’s Community Group, awarded $2500 to run workshops with police and the community to counter family violence
Fund chairman Hayden Raysmith says he aims to build the fund to $1million by 2020.
“That would enable us to continue to give out about $50,000 a year, comfortably, while we’re still growing the corpus,” he said.
Other grant recipients included the Melbourne Myanmar Christian Fellowship, awarded $3000 to run a camp for its young people; Gateway Community Services to prevent abuse and exploitation of people with a disability; and the Louis Joel Arts and Community Centre to help local students document the life stories of senior citizens. Mr Raysmith says the fund has also allocated $10,000 for three years towards a Melbourne University project.
“The university project is our first strategic project where we’re aiming to make a difference both to policy and to outcomes for people with intellectual and physical disabilities in terms of being able to take part in recreational and sporting activities,” he said.
“We’re doing that in conjunction with Wyndham council as well and the aim is for us to give $10,000 in grants in each of those three years, and the university will also put up $10,000.”
