Stawell Neighbourhood House can now employ one worker to continue its Food Connect program after the community group was granted $26,000 from the state government.
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The grant was one of 22 provided by the state government under the $650,000 Community Harmony Program for 2017-18.
Stawell Neighbourhood House coordinator Jenny Greenberger said she was thrilled to hear the news.
“We have been waiting for quite some time to find out about it,” she said.
The purpose of the grant will be two combine two of the organisation’s most successful programs.
Ms Greenberger said these programs were the Food Connect program and the English as a Second Language program.
”What we hope to do is to be able to have culturally themed community meals to educate our community about the different community groups that we have in Stawell,” Ms Greenberger said.
“We want to engage those who already come along and get their help to cook some dishes from different cultures and share what is available in our community.”
Ms Greenberger said the grant now enabled a worker to be employed and work across both of the programs.
“We can now employ a worker to continue Food Connect and also to extend it to some work with different cultural groups to help the community appreciate our cultural diversity,” she said.
Western Victoria MP Jaala Pulford made the announcement on Tuesday and said the cash injection would help foster understanding and respond to challenges in the Stawell region.
“Our government wants to strengthening relationships between diverse communities in Stawell and this grant will help build social cohesion and a great sense of belonging,” she said.
“I’m proud the Labor government supports the Stawell community to value and celebrate diversity.”