$21,000 awarded by Donnybrae Community Fund
Fourteen not-for-profit groups operating in the Donnybrook and Craigieburn area have shared in $21,000 of financial grants distributed through the inaugural Donnybrae Community Fund.
The successful recipients were announced at a presentation evening on December 21, with each group awarded a grant of $1,500 to support their local community project.
Gerard Laffan, President of Craigieburn Cricket Club, one of the worthy grant recipients, says they will use the funds to purchase turf wicket covers.
“Over the past two years the club has struggled to generate funds to purchase equipment as the ability to run social functions has been severely hampered,” Gerard shares.
“With the Donnybrae Community Fund grant being made available to us we have been able to purchase covers for our turf wickets that will assist the players and members to ensure we have a game every week even when the weather is against us.”
Maureen Reardon of the Craigieburn Salvation Army (Salvos 3064) says they will use the grant to operate their Connect Food Van in the local area.
“We plan to connect with families in the area and provide a free meal from the van six times over the new year,” Maureen says.
“We want to make this connection so they know that The Salvation Army is close to home any time that they need our services, or wish to attend our church and the programs that we run that are available to them.
Dennis Family Corporation, the developer of Donnybrae estate, has successfully operated Community Funds across its residential developments, both in Victoria and Queensland, since 2002 and distributed more than $850,000 in grants over that time.
Nidhi Joshi, the Dennis Family Corporation Marketing Executive for Modeina, who hosted the presentation event said: “We are proud to support the local communities in areas where we operate our business. We believe their efforts greatly contribute towards the liveability of our estates.
An independent judging panel reviewed the applications to select the final list of recipients. Congratulations to all of the inaugural recipients of Donnybrae Community Fund grants:
- 1st Craigieburn Scout Group
- Bandicoot Chess Club Inc
- Be The Life Church
- Brahma Kumaris Centres For Spiritual Learning
- Compassion North
- Craigieburn Basketball Association Inc
- Craigieburn Cricket Club
- Craigieburn Education & Community Centre
- Craigieburn Support and Exercise Group
- Hume City Swimming Club
- Hume Men's Shed – Craigieburn
- Orygen (Headspace Craigieburn)
- Probus Club of Craigieburn
- The Salvation Army Craigieburn