Flower power puts food first

THE Ballarat Floral Art group has donated a significant amount of funding Uniting Ballarat’s Breezeway initiative.

President of the Floral Art Group Anita Hinton said this year, they had to change the way they did things.

“We do a Mother’s Day stall normally at Central Square where we wrap parcels and we have this big display in around October or November, but this year we couldn’t have it,” she said.

“We were also giving money to EJ Tipping for a long time, but they’ve amalgamated with another group and so the money doesn’t stay local.

“We decided to go with another charity, a new one each year from now on, and we knew Breezeway were doing it tough so we thought we would go with them.”

Raising $3000 for the initiative, Ms Hinton said while they couldn’t put together all of their usual events, it was important they still made a donation at the end of the year.

“I’m part of the Uniting Church and I chair their events, so I knew about Breezeway and I knew how they were struggling and about the new premises and how much money that would need,” she said.

“I put it to the committee and the girls and they all agreed it was the thing to do.”

Breezeway coordinator Jennifer Wright said she was grateful for the Floral art group and the wider community for their continued support.

“It’s fantastic, we’ve been very fortunate this year and had so much support from the community, it’s been vital to us surviving,” she said.

“We’re feeding an excess of 60 people per day, and that’s two meals each day, we give them a hot meal and a takeaway pack, so that’s around 120 meals a day that we’re providing.

“So, this will real help with these meals and setting up the new kitchen, there’s a lot of things we can find a use for the money.”