Community groups the winners with GRANTS FROM THE ASHBURY COMMUNITY FUND

LAST week at the inaugural Ashbury Community Fund presentation evening, community groups were the winners with 15 community organisations in the Geelong area receiving grants totalling $12,000.

Held at the Dennis Family Corporation’s Ashbury estate, the event was attended by representatives of the Geelong business community and local government.

Dennis Family Group managing director Grant Dennis and City of Greater Geelong councillor Ron Nelson made the presentations to the not-for-profit groups, which were successful in their application for funding.

Since first establishing its Community Fund initiative in 2002, the Dennis Family Corporation has distributed more $600,000 in grants across various residential estates in Victoria and South East Queensland.

“The establishment of the Ashbury Community Fund has enabled us to extend the reach of our support into the Armstrong Creek neighbourhood where our Ashbury development is located,” Mr Dennis said.

“Eligibility for funding extended to not-for-profit groups operating in the Armstrong Creek, Grovedale. “Mt Duneed and Torquay postcode areas and we were very pleased with the quantity and variety of applications we received.”

An independent judging panel allocated grants of either $500 or $1,000 to the organisations, which were successful in their application including the Grovedale Toy Library, the Torquay Surf Life Saving Club Nipper Program, Mt Duneed Pony Club, Neighborhood Watch Armstrong Creek and Connewarre Fire Brigade amongst others.

Mr Dennis said the Ashbury estate would become home to approximately 4,000 people over the next decade and that his family has always felt it is important to support the areas where its business operates.

“The annual Community Fund concept was introduced within our family business as a practical way of giving back to the communities we create,” he said.

“Over the years, we’ve provided funding to many different organisations to help make their projects possible.

“It is very satisfying for us to now be able to support so many worthy organisations in the local neighbourhood around Ashbury.”

Mr Dennis said that after a very positive response to its launch this year, the Ashbury Community Fund will become an annual initiative.

“We encourage anyone who missed out on funding this year to make sure they lodge an application in 2019.”

One successful organisation this time around was the Grovedale Toy Library. Representing the library at the presentation evening, Caroline Salmon was thrilled to accept a cheque for $1,000 in support of its Active Families program.

“As the Grovedale Toy Library is run completely by member volunteers and funded solely by memberships and fundraising, one of the biggest challenges we have is ensuring we have enough toys to meet the growing demand of the local community,” Ms Salmon said.

“This money means we can now replace many of our older and most popular toys with new ones, and we can’t thank the Dennis Family Corporation enough for helping us make this a reality.”

More details on this year’s presentations and information on the 2019 Ashbury Community Fund can be located on the Ashbury website at ashburyestate.com.au.