ZAIDA GLIBANOVIC
By ZAIDA GLIBANOVIC
ENERGYAUSTRALIA Yallourn will grant a total of $20,000 to Morwell People’s Kitchen, Newborough Urban Fire Brigade and Gippstown Reserve in the company’s latest round of community grants. Morwell People’s Kitchen, Newborough Urban Fire Brigade and Gippstown Reserve are all set to receive collectively $20,000 in grants from EnergyAustralia Yallourn in their first round of grants for 2023. EnergyAustralia’s Latrobe Valley community grants initiative goes towards community projects to improve local infrastructure, education and tourism. EnergyAustralia’s Head of Yallourn, Greg McIntyre said, “We are proud to be funding three initiatives for organisations that are an integral part of our Latrobe Valley community. “We never take for granted the role the Latrobe Valley community has played over the lifetime of the Yallourn power station. These grants are a great way for our team to show our support for the region in which we live and work. A deserving recipient of the grant was Morwell People’s Kitchen which provides access to healthy, home-cooked meals for anyone in need. EnergyAustralia and the People’s Kitchen have had a long-standing partnership. “[EnergyAustralia] employees undertake regular volunteering with The People’s Kitchen, which prepares food each Friday for the local food bank, and we know there has been increasing demand for the service. We’re happy to see this funding going towards installing a new oven that will alleviate the pressure on the kitchen,” Mr McIntyre said. Latrobe City Councillor Tracie Lund and the head of Morwell Neighbourhood house People’s Kitchen welcomed the grant. “We’re going to purchase a brand new oven for our People’s Kitchen Program; we do a lot of work, and we cook out hundreds of meals a week, so this is a significant investment in this program, and we are thrilled to be a recipient … It certainly means we will be able to cook more and we’ll be doing it far more efficiently then what we are at the moment,” she said. “This investment is an investment not only in the Neighbourhood House and the People’s Kitchen, but it also is investing in the community and supporting the good work we are doing around addressing food insecurity in Latrobe,” Cr Lund added. Among the others that will share in EnergyAustralia’s grants is the Newborough Urban Fire Brigade. Mr McIntyre is “pleased to contribute to the Newborough Urban Fire Brigade, which provides critical services to the Yallourn site and surrounding community should CFA support be required. “They’re working to update its community education capacity, and this funding has meant they can keep it interactive through purchasing a television and iPads to conduct the program. Gippstown Reserve will also benefit from EnergyAustralia’s Community grants as the Heritage Park will be able to upgrade features of the tour to offer a charming experience. “This round of grants is also going to the Gippstown Reserve for a new self-guided and accessible audio-visual tour of Old Gippstown, engaging tourists and community groups in our local history,” said Mr McIntyre. The manager of the Gippstown Reserve, Tina Forte, was elated at the news that their grant application was accepted. “Self-guided tours, building by building, will allow Old Gippstown to be the same as other historical venues to do your own tour of the park,” she said. “I’m reaching out down Melbourne way to spread our tourism market as much as I can; we’ve recently had people come from New South Wales … So our reach is getting better, and this will engage tourists more, and it means that it will help our volunteers as well. “We will be able to provide the people that are coming in here with the technology to at leisure and take their time to learn the history more thoroughly than our volunteer times allow,” she added. This funding comes from EnergyAustralia Yallourn’s first round of grants for 2023, with applications for the next round opening in September. Each year EnergyAustralia provides $120,000 in community grants and sponsorships for the Latrobe Valley community. This year, EnergyAustralia Yallourn will distribute up to $60,000 in grant funding to a number of local grass roots organisations who can address key local issues currently facing our region. EnergyAustralia has two priority areas for grant funding which are education and social inclusion. EnergyAustralia Yallourn has two rounds of grant funding. Round 1 ran during March, and Round 2 will run for during September. In addition to the Grants program, EnergyAustralia Yallourn runs a Small Funding Grants Request program which supports local organisations and events in the region through small grants of up to $1000. Applications for these smaller grants are accepted throughout the year and reviewed monthly. For more information on our Community Grants program go to energyaustralia.com.au/about-us/what-we-do/generating-energy/yallourn-power-station/yallourn-community-grants
