Sweet success for community centre

LONG Gully Neighbourhood Centre has been awarded a ten-thousand-dollar grant by confectionary company Nestle as part of their Serve Your Community promotion.

LGNC was one of three recipients selected Australia-wide and centre coordinator Kerry Parry said she was thrilled to receive the grant that will go toward a bike path.

“I had a little dream in my head of a little bike path around the circumference of the backyard,” she said. “With a little white line up the centre.

“We could then teach some of our multicultural families and other children about keeping left whilst using balance bikes or scooters or to help them with their hand-eye coordination and balance.”

Ms Parry is no stranger to grant applications and said she was surprised by how easy the Nestle application was after stumbling across it one night.

“We’ve applied for a lot of grants on and off over the years, and it takes a lot of work and effort,” she said. “This one just popped up on Facebook one night a couple of months ago.

“It was just a few questions you had to answer about your community and what your project was.

“It certainly wasn’t the laborious type of funding application you normally have to deal with. It was very accessible. It was almost a pleasure to write.

The good news has kept coming for LGNC following the recent budget announcements and Ms Parry said she also hoped to upgrade some outdated equipment.

“The other thing that has happened in the meantime is the City of Greater Bendigo has just approved their 2024 budget,” she said. “Funding for the centre has been approved.

“So, we’ll actually be working with the council to incorporate the bike path as part of that refurbishment of our play space and at the end of it, we’ll end up with more than just a bike path.

“There’s a little playground now with a slide and a little bit of a ladder and you know, it’s been there for probably 40-odd years. It’s old wooden and plastic equipment.

“This will give us an opportunity to actually update that play space and along with the bike path turn it into something the children can really enjoy.”