Thankfully,large organisations such as CommBank are stepping up to ensure that community organisations can continue to make a tangible difference to creating brighter communities.
Large organisations are stepping up to help community organisations make a difference.Supplied
Educating country kids
Australia’s largest bank recently provided a financial grant to an organisation changing the lives of students who are at the most risk of disengaging from education and employment.
Juliet,CEO of Country Education Foundation of Australia.Supplied
The Country Education Foundation of Australia (CEF) received a $10,000 grant from CommBank to help it support country kids,narrowing the gap between their city counterparts.
The funding paves the way for underprivileged students to unlock new opportunities by giving them more choices,ensuring that students,their family and the broader community benefit as the next generation prepares to enter the workforce,explains CEF CEO Juliet Petersen.
Continuing education unlocks new opportunities and gives students choice later in life,she says.
Accommodation is one of the largest expenses students face when relocating from rural and regional communities to a large centre to study,which CEF can help cover on a case-by-case basis. “Education changes lives,families and communities,” she says.
“Our impact can be seen not just through financial assistance by way of grants and scholarships,but through the successful transition of the students we help into post-school education,” Petersen says.
Loving the helping hand
CommBank also provided a grant of $10,000 to help Sydney community organisation ReLove,which helps break cycles of poverty experienced by women and children impacted by domestic violence,people experiencing homelessness and intergenerational trauma as they access safe housing.
Amid the cost of living crisis,demand for the service is high,and with much more need out there in other parts of the nation,plans are under way to expand the service into other parts of Sydney.
ReLove has provided more than $9 million worth of material aid for free and saved more than 1,000 tonnes of furniture from going to landfill,the equivalent of planting more than 17,000 trees.
In the last 12 months,ReLove has supported over 640 families needing crisis support.Supplied
“We support around 15 families a week and are usually providing a full house of furniture right down to linen,rugs,and cushions. When people get access to social housing,ReLove’s model is built around responding quickly and giving them the dignity to choose their own furnishings,” co-founder Ren Fernando says.
In the last 12 months,ReLove has supported over 640 families with furniture and household items for people leaving crisis support and moving into new safe homes. Most of these people are women,often impacted by domestic violence or having experienced homelessness,Fernando explains.
But programs like these couldn’t run without support being extended by some of our nation’s largest organisations,like CommBank,which this year will award $10,000 grants to over 200 community organisations in need of a helping hand.
CommBank has been running the program for more than 100 years,supporting a diverse range of causes,ranging from cost-of-living,domestic and family violence,sustainability,and First Nations communities.
The grants have proven to make a tangible difference to both CEF and ReLove,enabling both services to continue brightening their local communities.
CommBank Community Grants provide hundreds of local organisations across Australia with $10,000 Community Grants. It’s just one of the ways CommBank is here for brighter communities.