By JESSE GRAHAM
COMMUNITY groups from Healesville and its surrounds will be able to fund new projects, following thousands of dollars in donations from the Healesville Walk Shopping Centre.
Healesville Walk centre manager Maree Abbott visited the area on Wednesday 27 July to present cheques to the Rotary Club of Healesville, the Badger Creek and District Men’s Shed and Share the Dignity, worth a total $6000.
The money will fund a program to support locals affected by family violence through Rotary; a chair-lift for members of the Men’s Shed; and supplying hygiene products to vulnerable women through Share the Dignity.
Healesville Walk’s marketing manager Melanie Brown told the Mail the amount given to the groups was decided by shoppers, with tokens given out with each visit to be put into one of three boxes, representing the groups.
Rotary received the most tokens, and received $3000, while the Men’s Shed came second and received $2000 and Share the Dignity received $1000.
“The community actually decided how the funds would be distributed,” Ms Brown said.
“What we’ve done is we’ve decided we would support the Badger Creek and District Men’s Shed for 12 months – we’ve been doing that with different initiatives, and we identified as part of Rotary, there is a need in the area to support locals affected by family violence.
“We met with Lesley (Plumpton), and she felt that was a very important issue – and we wanted to do something meaningful, to really support the community.
“I mean, $3000 is a drop in the ocean, but … it gets it out there, gets people talking about it, and maybe people who may be a little timid about coming forward now know there’s somewhere they can go.”
Men’s Shed president John Layton said the money would finish off fund-raising for a chair lift for members to access the mezzanine level of the shed once works are completed on a multi-purpose room.
The Healesville Walk money will be added to funds the group had received from the RACV Healesville Country Club and the Lions Club of Healesville.
Ms Brown said the $1000 for Share the Dignity will be used to buy hygiene products from Coles in Healesville, which will then be distributed to women living in vulnerable situations.
