The Williamstown Cricket Club is one of 17 local clubs to receive a grant from the CitiPower and Cricket Victoria Canteen Grants program.
The club has received $3,500 for a new fridge and freezer setup.
Williamstown Cricket Club vice president Cameron Smith said the new setup will replace the old ones lost in a fire.
“Around late September the function centre upstairs where the washers and dryers are combusted and caught fire after someone pulled a load out of the machine,” he said.
“The fire wrecked the current freezer and fridge set up.”
Mr Smith said the club is excited for funding to arrive so they can make use of the new facilities.
“Cricket Victoria have allocated the money, but there is a bit of a process to go through before the money is actually deposited into the bank account,” he said.
“It is great to have any investment from the governing body into the community clubs such as ours.
“Even though we are a constituent member of Cricket Victoria, it’s still good to receive some kind of funding that we don’t have to put up ourselves.”
Whether the price is small or big, Mr Smith said coming up with funds without a grant can be challenging.
“It is always hard to generate funds, whether it’s $500 or whether it’s $3,000, any money at all helps out,” he said.
The Williamstown Cricket Club is one of 80 clubs which have received the funding since the program’s commencement in 2018.
This year more than 100 submissions were received, with clubs able to use the funding to support a range of necessary upgrades, including electrical upgrades, new refrigerators, dishwashers, pie warmers and oven replacements.
Cricket Victoria chief executive Nick Cummins said they have continued to see record levels of interest in the program.
“Ultimately the Canteen Grants help to ensure clubs can continue to provide a safe environment with appropriate equipment and appliances. It makes a real difference in assisting clubs, volunteers and communities,” he said.
“Over the six years the Canteen Grants program has been running, more than $350,000 has been provided to Victorian cricket clubs to upgrade their facilities, which is an outstanding result.”
