FUNDING BOOST FOR GOLD COAST CHARITIES
THE Gold Coast region is a major beneficiary of Greater Charitable Foundation’s 2018 grant round, with financial support offered to Children’s Hospital Foundation Qld and OzHarvest’s NEST initiative.
The announcement marks a significant milestone for the foundation, with this being its largest contribution to charitable organisations in the southeast Queensland region.
Children’s Hospital Foundation Queensland, will receive more than $300,000 in funding to support the Gold Coast Hospital-based Child Life Therapy (CLT) program, designed to help counteract the fears, misconceptions and anxiety that hospital experiences can provoke in children.
Funding will also allow OzHarvest to roll out its Nutrition Education Sustenance Training (NEST) program throughout the Gold Coast region. NEST is a five-week educational program for disadvantaged young people, families, men and women seeking to develop practical skills and knowledge in nutrition.
In total, six grant recipients, which include both new and previously funded partners, will each receive between $25,000 and $334,000 to deliver crucial services to those in need across the Hunter, regional NSW and southeast Queensland.
This year’s funding brings the foundation’s total contribution to community groups to more than $8 million since its establishment in 2011.
Greater Charitable Foundation CEO Anne Long said the foundation was delighted to continue its support of established programs, as well as expand its impact to cover new initiatives operating to fulfil a valuable need in the community.
“We are so proud of how far the foundation has come in the last seven years, especially in terms of the spread of programs we support and the geographical reach our impact is having,” said Ms Long.
“We were faced with a difficult task, but out of more than 150 applications, the charities we have welcomed on board complement the work of our existing partners in making an impact on the lives of those most vulnerable across the communities in which we operate.”
The foundation’s six new partners will join the ranks of five existing charities which remain under contract to deliver prevention and support programs across the areas of health, youth development, education and research.
Other 2018 charity partners include the National Centre for Childhood Grief (NSW Hunter region), Cancer Patients Foundation (Hunter and regional NSW), Clontarf Foundation (Hunter and regional NSW) and the McGrath Foundation (NSW Hunter region) which sustains the role of Hunter-based McGrath Breast Care Nurse to provide physical, psychological and emotional support to individuals suffering from breast cancer.
For more information on Greater Charitable Foundation and its partners visit https:// www.greater.com.au/ charitable-foundation.