Murray issues COVID grants

Two local retirement village projects have received the lion’s share of COVID Support Grants issued by Murray River Council.

Council has resolved to award $26,975 under the grants program, to help local community groups get back on their feet after twoyears of little to no activity.

The funding was originally allocated for the next round of its council’s 2021/22 community grants program.

Mayor Chris Bilkey said the decision to rechannel the funding followed a range of requests for financial support from local community groups hit hard by COVID restrictions.

“Community groups can be just as important as viable local businesses, and we recognised that we have some organisations out there that may benefit from support through this one-off grant program,” he said.

“We were pleased to see some applications come in and are happy we can provide some support where needed.”

The Moulamein and Mathoura retirement village projects were both awarded $10,000.

Moulamein’s share will cover electricity and maintenance accounts, while at Mathoura the $10,000 will be for landscaping as part of the next unit development.

Other grant recipients are as follows: Caldwell Hall Management Committee $1131 to buy new stage lighting and new spinaway roof ventilators, and to cover the cost of annual piano tuning.

Mathoura Public School P&C Association $814 to cover insurance and accounting costs.

Mathoura Football Netball Club Inc - $2500 to cover an electricity account.

Wakool Community Progress Association Inc - $1920 to cover insurance premiums and electricity expenses.

Echuca Moama Model Railroaders Inc. $610 for corporate affairs insurance, trailer expenses, club shirts and display layout.