Kilmore Bowls Club Vice President Alan Langdon, Secretary Leslie Hodgson, and committee member Colin Hodgson welcomed Member for McEwen Rob Mitchell recently to present a new Australian flag to the Club, taking the opportunity on the day to chat to him about various topics.
“It is always great to return to Kilmore Bowls Club, it really takes me back in time,” Mr Mitchell said.
“The Bowls Club has always been a central part of Kilmore. It has and continues to serve the community well, and has produced fantastic results.
“Like most community clubs post COVID, it has struggled with membership and especially volunteers, and it is important we can reach out and help groups where we can, provide information on the opportunities available to them – how they can grow their clubs and promote more community involvement.”
Mr Mitchell noted such available opportunities such as the Stronger Communities Grants program, which provides grants between $2500 and $20,000 to community organisations and local governments for projects that deliver social benefits to local communities.
“We promote these grant programs via an expression of interest process, which goes through an independent selection committee and gives the applicants plenty of time to prepare all the information needed for the final grant application,” he said.
In addition, the Federal Government Volunteer Grants program also assists clubs with one of their most valuable commodities – people.
The Volunteer Grants program supports the work of local community organisations by enabling the inclusion of vulnerable people and promoting awareness to increase participation in volunteering.
Grants of between $1000 and $5000 are available to assist eligible not-for-profit community organisations support the efforts of their volunteers. Examples of what grant funding can assist with includes small portable equipment purchases, contributions towards the cost of training volunteers, reimbursement of fuel costs for volunteers, and undertaking background screening checks for volunteers.
“Volunteers are the lifeblood of our community and without them these groups would not exist. By supporting a club’s volunteers, we give clubs the opportunity to thrive,” Mr Mitchell said.
“Current rounds for both the Stronger Communities Grants and the Volunteer Grants programs have closed but will reopen [soon], and community groups can keep aware of grant opportunities at www.grants.gov.au.
“We also provide plenty of notice on my Facebook and Instagram pages when rounds are open.”
