State Trustees Community Grants
Community Grants recipients for 2011 announced
Grandparents who find themselves suddenly caring for their grandchildren, bereaved children struggling with their grief and people with disabilities from migrant backgrounds are just some of the groups our grants will support this year.
Eight organisations throughout Victoria will be supported to provide much-needed help to older people, people living with an intellectual disability, physical disability or mental illness, and people coping with bereavement.
Congratulations to:
- Acquired Brain Injury Service, Ballarat Health Services
- Ballan and Memorial District Bush Nursing Hospital and Hostel
- Calvary Health Care Bethlehem
- Kevin Heinze Garden Centre Inc
- Lara Community Housing
- South East Palliative Care
- Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre
- Post Placement Support Service Inc
Your work to provide much-needed support to your community is applauded. Many thanks also to those organisations who applied but were unsuccessful this year. Your work is also vital and we encourage your continued efforts. Please consider reapplying in 2012.
View more details about each project here and stay tuned for stories as the projects get started.
Giving something back with our community grants
Angela Burton from State Trustees cuts the ribbon at the presentation of a grant to Wintringham for their vegetable garden project.
With some gentle nagging, most teenagers can be encouraged to clean up their room, help out with dinner or bring in the washing.
At 15, James and his brother, have had to shoulder rather more responsibility. They both care for their older brother, who has a disability.
“My parents have spent most of this life looking after him and they are having trouble coping. We dress and feed him. Anything that he can’t do for himself,” James said.
“One of the hardest things is getting him to eat a proper meal. It was awesome the other day, he managed to finish a chicken schnitzel. That was a real milestone.” *
James meets up with 23 other young people who are also caring for their disabled brothers or sisters, at the Siblings Program in Melbourne’s inner west. Run by MacKillop Family Services, the program offers young people aged between 11 and 17, a break from their caring responsibilities. In the company of others their own age in similar situations, the kids enjoy outings and other activities. In James’ words, they just have fun.
State Trustees has provided a community grant of $5,000 to support a camp for this group. David Barber, Senior Trust Advisor at State Trustees, met some of the young people who’ll go to the camp. David was part of the voluntary staff committee who recommended that this program be supported.
“From working with families people with disabilities, I know that it is extremely hard for carers get respite. We wanted to support this program because if you look after the well-being of a disabled person’s carer, then that can only help the disabled person,” David added.
Meanwhile, in another part of Melbourne, Myles Green, a Business Analyst at State Trustees, met a member of the Choir of Hard Knocks at one of Wintringham’s residential facilities for homeless older people.
“He helped to set up the vegetable garden that one of our community grants supported,” Myles explained.
“We talked about the joy that you get from growing vegetables and he said he was looking forward to being able to use some of them in his dinner soon,” Myles added.
Another grant of $5,000 supported a summer holiday for 20 families who have a child with an intellectual disability. Karen Deltondo, a Personal Financial Consultant at State Trustees, met some of the families who told her that the camp will mean a lot to them.
“One of the mums told me that the camp is like a home away from home for them and her son loves returning to the same place as he has got to know some of the locals,” Karen said.
These are just three of the nine community grants that State Trustees has supported. The $40,000 we distribute in grants each year helps organisations that support people with physical and intellectual disabilities, mental illness, older people and people coping with bereavement.
State Trustees Managing Director Tony Fitzgerald said State Trustees’ Community Grants Program was designed to help community groups across Victoria continue their vital and often unsung work.
“Projects make a big difference in the lives of many Victorians, and State Trustees is proud to support all of these worthy projects,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
*This story, while fictional, is based on real experience. Names and other personal details have been changed in order to protect confidentiality. Any similarity between a person’s name and circumstances to the scenario described here is unintended and coincidental.
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