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Bob Gordon
Managing Director
The Forestry Tasmania-Southern Cross Television selection panel has finalised its decision on the Community Assist recipients for 2009/10.
The Community Assist Program 2009/10 received a record number of applicants this year, with 84 applications for over $840,000 in sponsorship money. This overwhelming response made the selection panel’s decision very difficult, as all the applications represented extremely worthy projects.
The Community Assist Program is a joint venture between Forestry Tasmania and Southern Cross Television that provides funding for individuals and organisations who endeavour to make their communities better places to live.
Over the past two years, the Community Assist Program has allocated thousands of dollars in funding to individuals and locally based initiatives and events. The 2008/09 Program saw many inspirational Tasmanian organisations and individuals go on to achieve great things through their sponsorships.
In 2009/10, Community Assist will continue its partnership with the Football Federation Tasmania through a major Pride of Tasmania sponsorship for the Northern and Southern Premier Leagues to promote football within the state.
Community Assist will also continue its association with the Rotary Club of Hobart to support the annual Charity Art Show, the Ben Lomond Descent, and the inspirational Vlastik Skvaril, who is undertaking a scooter ride from Darwin to Adelaide to raise money for cancer charity CanTeen.
In a four-year collaboration with the Derwent Valley Autumn Festival, Community Assist will be the major sponsor of the New Norfolk event, which showcases entertainment and local talent from around the region.
The Southern Cross Young Achievers Regional Initiative Award and Kilburn Netball Club have also been successful in receiving Pride of Tasmania sponsorship.
Several new partnerships will also be created this year, including one with the Launceston Mountain Bike Club and Dirt Devils to support a statewide Mountain Bike Cross Country and Downhill Series incorporating 12 events.
The Schools’ Triathlon Challenge has also been successful, and sponsorship will allow the event, which encourages participation and exercise amongst school aged children, to run again in 2009.
Shorewell Park Kommunity Kids will also receive funding to facilitate its program, which provides young people with opportunities to develop social networks and generate pride in themselves and their communities.
Sixteen applicants will receive Care for People sponsorships of up to $1,000. Included in the successful applicants is the Tasmanian Sail Training Association, which will use the sponsorship to benefit its program taking disadvantaged youth aboard the Lady Nelson to teach them teamwork and sailing skills.
Uniting Care Tasmania has received a $1,000 sponsorship to assist with the set up and running of its Mobile Op Shop, which will deliver clothes and blankets to struggling areas in Tasmania.
New Horizons Club’s Try Me Out program will receive support to facilitate an activity-based day encouraging school students with disabilities to undertake sport and recreation in a safe environment.
Community Assist will continue to support young Tasmanian elite athletes with sponsorship grants of $500 provided to Kye Clark (skeet shooting), Ebony Schuecker-Rush (diving), Emily Meaney (diving) and Michael Egan (rowing) to encourage further development and training of these promising young sporting stars.
The Port Arthur Sports Club’s Boxing Day Sports Carnival will receive support for its woodchopping events, as will the St Helens Athletic Club for its annual Athletics Carnival and womens’ wheel race.
The Scottsdale Foresters’ Cricket Club will receive sponsorship to support the team throughout its 2009/10 season and trip to Yea, Victoria, to play a charity match for the bushfire affected area in October.
Local charities, including the Burnie Branch of Make a Wish and the Tasmanian Special Children's Christmas Party, have received sponsorship for fundraising events scheduled over the next 12 months.
In the State’s south, the Huon Volunteer Transport Auxiliary, which assists with the transport of frail and elderly residents to medical and other appointments, has received a Community Assist sponsorship. The New Norfolk Scout Group will also benefit, receiving funding to purchase a canvas utility tent allowing scouts to carry out outdoor activities in a safe and professional environment.
Launceston’s Jack Duffy, who has Cerebral Palsy Spastic Quadriplegia, will receive support for the Kayak Jack ‘Giving Something Back’ fundraising event as he accompanies his father kayaking from Launceston to Hobart to raise money for St Giles.
Finally, a grant of $1,000 has been made towards Professor Nigel Fortheath and research into finding a cure for Mucor amphibiorum - a deadly fungal disease that affects the Tasmanian Platypus.
A total of $105,750 has been allocated through the Community Assist Program 2009/10 and a full break down of the recipients and the sponsorship money provided is detailed below:
