Wakefield Regional Council Powers Up Bowling Clubs
COVID-19 may have shut down much of the world, but it hasn’t stopped the utilities bills from coming in. When funding for volunteer run community organisations appeared to have been missed, Wakefield Regional Council responded.
Mayor Rodney Reid stated “From our conversations with members of local sporting groups, it was apparent most required support addressing these particular utility costs following the impacts of COVID-19 on their clubs and this blow would leave a lasting scar on their financial position going forward”.
A Utilities Support Grant providing up to $5,000 has been made available to help sporting clubs and community organisations cover the costs of their water and electricity bills received from March through to September 2020.
The Blyth Bowling Club shared their success, with Secretary Maureen Eime saying it was the easiest grant they had ever submitted, “having completed the Bowls SA survey a month earlier, I had all the financial details already at hand”.
Mayor Reid said, “in the case of the Blyth Bowling Club, the application was easy to process after members used a COVID-19 Impact template provided to clubs by Bowls SA. As of Monday, 10 community and sporting groups had their grant applications approved, with three of the successful applications to date from local bowling clubs.”
The Port Wakefield and Snowtown Bowling Clubs have also been successful in the Utilities Support Grant, with Lynette Welke of Snowtown being notified of their success within 12 hours of submitting.
The Wakefield Regional Council expect there will be more clubs apply in coming months as groups prepare their annual financial statements.
