A Girgarre garden was one of seven community organisations to receive a grant under the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) grant program this week.
The Gargarro Botanic Garden received a $10,000 boost from the Rebuilding Regional Communities (RRC) funding stream under FRRR, which aims at “enhancing and supporting” regional businesses to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the FRRR website, the Gargarro Botanic Garden received $10,000 to “improve safety and workload of volunteers post-pandemic by purchasing a reliable ride-on mower to maintain grounds and boost visitation”.
Gargarro Project Convener Athol 'Doc' McDonald said the money would go towards a new lawnmower for their volunteer group, Friends of Gargarro, to use instead of using borrowed equipment.
“It's pretty exciting, even though it wasn’t a huge pool to choose from, we’re very pleased that we were able to secure the funds,” Mr McDonald said.
“Our Friends of Gargarro are also chipping in $7000 to add to the pool so that we’ll have enough to purchase the new mower,” he said.
Other recipients of grants included Numurkah Community Learning Centre, Tatura Civic Halls Committee Incorporated, Yarrawonga Mulwala Men's Shed, Rochester Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, Avenel Active - Avenel ‘Get Me to the Shops’ Community Transport Project, Bella A'Capella Echuca-Moama Arts Initiative and Gnarly Neighbours - Social Enterprise Fit-Out.
Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell congratulated the seven organisations that received funding, but criticised the Federal Government for having “forgotten and starved regional communities of grant funding”.
“Many regional communities are still waiting to hear the outcome of funding applications put to the government way back (in) July last year, more than 10 months ago,” he said.
Applications for the Strengthening Rural Communities grant program closed on February 26, 2024.