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For Mount Clear scouts, being awarded a grant from Ballarat Connected Communities is a welcome reprieve for their community organisation, Mount Clear scouts group leader said.
The scouts group which received $4000 worth of funding will use the money to upgrade outdated equipment and resources.
1st Mount Clear Scouts group leader Oliver Reeve said he was "extremely grateful" to Ballarat Connected Communities for their support especially after a series of unsuccessful attempts in trying to secure funding.
"A lot of our resources were quite old and were reaching the end of their life so we were looking to use this funding for our program, which we call 'bringing adventure to life', to help us with upgrading our assets so we can continue running these outdoor based activities for our young people, " Mr Reeve said.
"We've applied for a number of grants and have been unsuccessful for different reasons so actually having the opportunity where we can actually for the sake of our members and our families see that this fundraising that we're doing is now going to pay dividends because we can go and get this new stuff regular people get is wonderful."
Specifically, Mount Clear scouts has used part of their funding to purchase two canoes, life jackets as well as tents for both their boys and girls.
Mr Reeve said the funding was very much needed for the self-funded group.
"We had the discussion that we needed to replace some assets and we knew we couldn't do it all by ourselves, so we came in with the mindset of $1 of grant money against $1 of our own money and it was really just an opportune moment," he said.
"My treasurer made me aware that this grant was out there and worth applying for so I worked with my committee members and my leaders to identify what our priorities were going forward and created this application and was successful."
Ballarat Connected Communities director Brett Macdonald said for 1st Mount Clear Scouts group, it is their dedication to enriching the lives of young people which saw them receiving grant funding for the first time.
"The scouts just ticked so many boxes with what they're doing for our young people across Mount Clear, Mount Helen and Lal Lal with getting them back into the great outdoors learning skills, learning leadership and getting away from the phones," Mr Macdonald said.
Grant applications which close on 22 May form part of Ballarat Connected Communities first round grants for this year. The body, which is funded by three Bendigo Bank branches from Ballarat, aims to distribute between $20,000 and $30,000 in grant money to local community groups.
However, Mr Macdonald said they were open to providing a larger amount of funding if they received a "stand out" application. "Local community groups have had it pretty tough over the last couple of years so we just hope to build a stronger Ballarat community," he said.
Mr Macdonald encouraged any group within the Ballarat region which is not-for-profit to apply.
"We obviously can't meet everyone's needs, but we will consider all applications and fund as many as we can."
