The Give Where You Live Foundation is proud to announce through the 2023 Survive & Thrive grant round it will provide over $420,000 in grants to 15 local organisations to help create a fairer community across the Geelong region.
The 15 local organisations will receive grants of up to $40,000 to support people in our community experiencing life inhibiting crisis, including food insecurity and homelessness.
Over $200,000 of the 2023 Survive & Thrive grant funding will be directed towards supporting food security across the region, in part as a result of public donations received in the Foundation’s 2022 Feed Geelong Appeal.
Acting CEO Meg Price said the impact of these grants will help provide much needed support to food relief agencies.
“As the cost of groceries and living expenses rise, so does the number of people in our community reaching out to food relief agencies for support with food assistance.
“Give Where You Live Foundation has deep relationships with community organisations across the region and we continue to see increasing levels of demand in the community services and emergency relief sector, with some agencies reporting an increase in demand of 239%* since 2020/21.”
“We estimate these grants will provide over 25,000 meals to support food relief and reduce food insecurity.”
“These grants are only possible thanks to our generous donors, corporate partners and supporters and we thank them for helping the Foundation to create a fairer G21 region for all people and places.”
One of the 15 grant recipients is Bellarine Living and Learning Centre, who will receive a $30,000 grant to employ a project coordinator to further develop food security programs in the 3219 postcode.
In addition to increasing support to meet basic economic needs through food relief and encouraging strong social and community connections, this project will focus on building resilience and empowerment for community members.
Bellarine Living and Learning Centre’s food bank service is in Melissa’s community. Melissa and her husband have four children under the age of 11, including young twins. During the Covid pandemic Melissa’s husband was out of work for over 12 months.
“We were left to rely on our savings. We couldn’t afford petrol to drive to another food bank. The food bank here was a place where I could go to get fresh veggies and groceries for my family and have a chat with everyone there.”
Two years on and Melissa and her family are thriving. As a result of the care and sense of community experienced at Bellarine Living and Learning Centre, Melissa now gives back to the community that helped her by volunteering at the Bellarine Living and Learning Centre food bank. The same place she turned to for help when things weren’t so great.
“I feel blessed that this service is available. It has made us stronger as a family”, Melissa said. “I now volunteer here and it’s a real community that helps each other.”
The grant applications were reviewed by a panel of over 100 volunteers from the community whose recommendations formed part of the decision-making process.
*Source: Geelong Food Relief Centre
See below for the full list of 2023 Survive & Thrive Annual Recipients:
| Bellarine Living and Learning Centre Inc. | $30,000 |
| Barwon Disability Resource Council | $37,160 |
| Drysdale Family Support Inc. | $25,000 |
| Farm My School Ltd | $40,000 |
| Geelong Food Relief Centre | $40,000 |
| Hesse Rural Health | $10,000 |
| Hope Bereavement Care | $30,000 |
| Institute of Health Transformation – Deakin University | $39,901 |
| Ocean Mind | $30,000 |
| Read the Play Inc | $21,342 |
| Riding for the Disabled-Barwon | $10,000 |
| Samaritan House Geelong | $22,900 |
| The Outpost Inc. | $18,000 |
| The Power In You Project* | $30,000 |
| Uniting Vic Tas | $40,000 |
Read all about the Survive and Thrive grant recipients for 2023