$300k Goes to Children’s Charities

Seven projects supporting children and young people in Victoria have shared in $300,000 worth of grants from the R.M. Ansett Trust.

The grants were awarded to charities including SHINE for Kids, Scope (Vic) and Good Beginnings Australia.

The major grant of $100,000 was awarded to the Salvation Army Eastcare Network to fund a project to support young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, particularly young adults who are exiting out-of-home care and other statutory programs in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

“As trustee of the R.M. Ansett Trust, Equity Trustees received applications for many valuable projects and is very pleased to provide funds for seven projects this year,” Tabitha Lovett, Head of Philanthropy, said.

“We hope that these grants will make a positive difference in the lives of many children and young people

“For example, SHINE for Kids Cooperative will extend its support for children who have parents in prison and Good Beginnings Australia will run an early learning program for disadvantaged children in Doveton in Melbourne’s east so that they have better language and literacy skills when starting school.”

The R.M. Ansett Trust is a charitable trust established by Sir Reginald Ansett, the founder of Ansett Airlines, to assist children to take their place in life.

The Ansett Trust says it particularly sought applications from charitable organisations working with children and youth in the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston areas because of Sir Reginald’s long association with the region.

Other grants went to:

• Living the Dream Foundation for a youth mentoring program for marginalised youth in Frankston;
• TaskForce Community Agency for a Trade Try-Outs program for disadvantaged young people to complete skills-based training;
• Scope (Vic) Limited for its GoKids program that provides specialist advice and therapy for children with cerebral palsy who are unable to walk unassisted;
• The Advisory Council for Children with Impaired Hearing (Taralye) for speech pathology assessment services to culturally and linguistic diverse (CALD) families in Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs who have a young child with hearing loss.