Whittlesea Community House will use a $10,000 grant from property fund manager ISPT to continue supporting the Mill Park community.
ISPT established a Community Kickstart grants program to give back to groups that have been the lifeblood of communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whittlesea Community House had a strong connection with Mill Park Village during the pandemic, hosting activities to reduce social isolation, increase community connectedness and promote environmental sustainability.
Its Boomerang Bags program, which aims to reduce textile waste, saves waste from landfill and uses it to create re-useable tote bags.
Whittlesea Community House president Ursula Jenkins said the group planned to use the ISPT grant to develop and expand the Boomerang Bags program through a print and online awareness campaign, helping to combat an increasing reliance on disposable products.
She said Whittlesea Community House was thankful to receive the funding and was excited about the possibilities it brought.
“The Boomerang Bags idea seems so simple – take some secondhand unwanted fabrics, cut them all up and sew them into beautiful shopping totes to hand out at the supermarket as a free alternative to plastic bags,” she said.
“But that simple idea has a huge flow-on effect that has the potential to change and improve entire communities.”
Mill Park Village centre manager Mark Ensor thanked each of the groups that applied for the grants.
“There are so many fantastic local organisations within our region and ISPT is very supportive of providing grant opportunities to help them continue their wonderful work,” he said.
“We believe the Whittlesea Community House will utilise this grant to develop meaningful change, and the funds will assist in allowing more projects and initiatives to take place and thereby making Mill Park Village an even more attractive place to live.
“Mill Park Village and ISPT recognises the hard work that goes on behind the scenes of community groups and organisations to keep our community united, so we are very pleased to be able to offer these grants.”
Each application was assessed against criteria including commitment to and investment into the Mill Park community, demonstration of innovation and solutions that benefit the community and the cultivation of a shared future.
More information about ISPT is available at ispt.net.au.
