Banking on community

WHEN Portarlington’s food relief service found itself in desperate need of a new home earlier this year, its dedicated volunteers turned to Community Bank Bellarine for help.

The bank, which last year celebrated the 25th anniversary of its branch in Newcombe Street, sprang into action, using its local networks to help Food Assist 3223 secure a three-year lease at the former Portarlington Food Park site.

Through its community grants program, Community Bank Bellarine also pulled together $60,000 in funding to cover the foodshare’s rental and operational costs, ensuring the service, which supplies more than 1,000 people with nutritious food and social connection each month, can continue its vital work.

“The bank has really saved us,” Food Assist 3223 president Prue Drever told this masthead in April.

“Basically, if it wasn’t for them, we would be shutting [our doors]… so I call them our fairy godmothers.”

The food relief service is one of around 50 community groups to receive support from Community Bank Bellarine this year alone, while an estimated $4 million has been invested back into the local community since the Portarlington branch opened its doors in 1999.

For many of the local groups that have received support, like Food Assist 3223, the impact is life-changing.

It’s an impact not lost on Community Bank Bellarine’s Chris Niven, who together with the organisation’s board, is focused on growing the grants program to ensure it actively contributes to shaping the community’s future.

“What’s really pleasing is that we’ve been able to grow and be successful and still invest back,” he said.

“We are constantly on the lookout for worthwhile projects.

“Collaboration with all our local clubs and sporting organisations and service groups, like the Lions… are really crucial. We support them and hopefully they can find a way to support us, so it completes the circle.

“Banking with us and supporting us in that way, being a customer of the Community Bank, means that you’re actually helping your local community.”

Other beneficiaries of the bank’s support include organisations like Wombats Wish, along with major local events such as the North Bellarine Film Festival, Portarlington Mussel Festival and the National Celtic Folk Festival, which returns to Portarlington this weekend.

Farm My School – the innovative market garden initiative at Bellarine Secondary College – has also been a major grant recipient. In 2023, it was awarded $150,000, much-needed funds that have supported the employment of staff and purchase of equipment at the farm over the past three years.

The team is now close to opening its second location at a nearby school.

“We’re keen to keeping evolving that collaborative piece with local groups,” Mr Niven said.

“If we work together, we’re stronger.”