Recently, I finished a job for my local government, the City of Greater Bendigo. They contracted me to write several short narratives about local organisations who had received a community grant from the council. Who knows where you are reading this from, but in Australia, most local governments have a small grants program which assists local groups to “get stuff done”. My council wants to publicise and promote the great work of their community, and encourage others to apply for the grants, so that’s where I came in.

In my mind, small groups getting stuff done is the lifeblood of a healthy neighbourhood, and so I got a real buzz from travelling around the municipality talking to people who are passionate about their little corner of it.

Here a few examples of the groups I wrote about:

1. Kangaroo Flat Family Day: after the local council had run a family fun day, the local community decided it was too good to let go. They have banded together to run a fantastic day for families in the holidays. For many of the organisations involved, it was the first time they’d partnered with others to do something positive in the neighbourhood. Read about it here.
2. Phascogales Preservation: my favourite part of this story is the name of the little marsupial that is the focus of this project. A local preservation group teamed up with their nearby high school to construct nesting boxes that will keep the phascogales safe from predators. Read about it here..
3. Heathcote Artists: I had no idea that life-drawing was such a fundamental skill for artists. As I found out, it provides a way to practice all the key aspects of art such as line, tone, shape, and shade. It’s also expensive to hire a model for life-drawing, so most amateur artists have never had the opportunity. But this community grant gave the Heathcote community the chance to have a go. Read about it here.

Photo Credit: Russell Jones, Bendigo Advertiser.