Community Grants Program

Visual: We open on a shot of a women’s clothes rack with colourful shirts.

SUPER: Introducing Family Life 2023 Community Grants Recipient.

Audio: Opening music.Visual: We see a Family Life volunteer stacking books outside an op shop. We then see a man and woman inside a Family Life store, and the woman speaks.

SUPER: Liz Thomas. Senior Manager Social Enterprise.

They are standing in between two clothing aisles that have a range of houseware and accessory items on them. There are signs hanging in the background that say, “Donate now” and “Volunteer with us”.

Audio: VO: Family Life has been operational for the past 52 years. It was started by a group of ladies who saw the need of people in distress, and this developed into our social services, and then we have social enterprise.

Visual: They are standing in between two clothing aisles that have a range of houseware and accessory items on them. There are signs hanging in the background that say, “Donate now” and “Volunteer with us”.

Visual: A volunteer continues to tidy up books outside the op shop. We see another woman browsing through a clothes rack with shirts. We then see volunteers going through a large bag of donated clothing at the back of the store.

Audio: VO: Social enterprise is the op shops.

Audio: The op shops are there for the community and we are able, with the funds to be able to run programs.

Visual: We go back to the man and woman in the op shop. The man speaks while the woman looks at him.

SUPER: James Clark. Grants & Projects Officer.

Audio: VO: It was really special for us to receive this grant, because without this, we are unable to run the training with our volunteers. So the training we're running is with St John's,

Visual: We see Family Life volunteers looking through different donations at the back of the store, and also see them chatting in the kitchen.

Audio: and it's really about uplifting our volunteers, understanding and literacy around mental health, and making sure that they can take care of themselves and those in their lives and their communities.

Visual: We see the man chatting to a customer who is browsing through books in the op shop. The volunteers continue looking through different donations.

Audio: I think it's the most incredible thing because it gives us the opportunity to be able to empower our volunteers. We have the most incredible customers coming in.

Visual: One of the volunteers is pointing and showing people donations in the back room. We then see a close up of the man and woman in the op shop speaking again.

VO: So the Mental Health Essentials Project is really driven by our wonderful volunteers. They've actually filled out a survey indicating what kind of training they were really interested in receiving.

Visual: A volunteer is browsing through a clothes’ rack with a customer. They are smiling and speaking while looking through the clothes.

Audio: And one of those was some information around mental health and improving their literacy around that. And what to do if someone isn't doing well in either their community, their family, themselves, or even any of our customers that may come through.

Visual: The volunteer continues to look through jewellery with the same customer. The customer then purchases something with her Eftpos card before walking out of the store.

VO: Our volunteers are in touch with the community on a day to day basis. You'll find in our stores there are regular customers who come in, who are well known by names and our wonderful volunteers are in a position to really make really firm connections and really shore up the community feel in our shops.

Visual: The man and woman continue to speak in the aisle. The man smiles while the woman expresses with her hands.

Audio: And it's just that wonderful feeling of being empowered to know, oh, I can say, are you feeling okay?

Visual: We see Family Life volunteers sitting at a table outside the back of the op shop. A woman drinks a cup of tea and there are biscuits and muffins on the table.

Audio: And I think that's a huge benefit for Family Life because we are totally community invested.

Visual: Australia Post logo animates on frame.
SUPER: auspost.com.au/grants”

Audio: Closing music.
 

Visual: We open on an aerial shot of Bonnie Doon town and see the hills, lake and houses.

Audio: Opening music.

SUPER: Introducing Bonnie Doon Community Group: 2023 Community Grants Recipient.

VO: The Bonnie Doon Community Group was established in 1999 when the school closed. And we thought we really would like to do something for the town and try and keep our old school in the area.

Visual: Another aerial shot of Bonnie Doon town which shows trees, houses, and cars.

Visual: Two women stand in front of the Bonnie Doon Community Group Centre.

SUPER: Nola Evans. President, Bonnie Doon Community Group.

Visual: The camera zooms up on the two women as one continues to speak.

VO: In 2004, we opened the Bonnie Doon Community Centre. So 20 years ago.

Visual: A man walks through the hallway in the community centre. There is a bench with teacups and a coffee filter behind him, as well as a pinboard with notices on it. He walks into a room and there is an Australia Post-branded poster sitting on an easel, with the text “Congratulations Bonnie Doon Community Group inc”. The room has couches, a coffee tables, flowers and a blackboard.

VO: We offer a broad range of services that bring people together, such as today's lunch, and provide other services for exercise, mental health.

Visual: A group of people sit at a large coffee table in the room. The table has teacups and cutlery on it. More people enter the room and continue to laugh and chat with each other.

VO: So the Comensality Lunch Project is a project that we thought up when we heard about the Australia Post grant for mental health.

Visual: We go back to the two women standing in front of the Bonnie Doon Community Group Centre.

SUPER: Rebecca Oslund. Bonnie Doon Community Centre Manager.

Visual: Two women enter the room carrying buns, sandwiches, and containers of salad. People continue to chat and shake hands in the room while the food is being spread out on the table.

VO: If we can supply a three-course meal, a healthy meal, then we might just get a few of the people that live alone that we know probably don't cook a lot to join us.

Visual: A woman holds a glass of water and watches other women talking. There is a blackboard in the background with “Welcome to our Food 4 Thought Lunches”.

VO: And we called it Food For Thought because we were thinking, how can we get people together to share?

Visual: Men and women continue to talk and shake hands around the table.

VO: And food is really a way that you can get most people out of the house. That was how the project was born. 

Visual: Volunteers from the Community Centre are standing up and chatting to people around the table, encouraging and watching them eat plates of lunch.

VO: The second part of the project was bringing the younger generations together with the older generations, so that we could share some history. People can tell stories. Us younger generations can learn more about our community by sharing a meal together.

Visual: A close-up of the table which shows buns, lamingtons, cakes, and a platter of fruit. People continue to serve themselves food and then chat at the table.

VO: Because we're not for profit, we're also a charity. We run on a very shoestring budget, this has meant that we're able to provide a three course healthy lunch to at least 15 community members twice a month. So our volunteers, at the moment we have three girls that join us every lunch.

Visual: We go back to the two women standing in front of the Bonnie Doon Community Group centre.

VO: It's meant a lot to them because they formed relationships with a lot of local community members, and just share stories of our community, look after each other. So it's been brilliant.

Volunteers continue to speak to people around the table.

We go back to the two women standing in front of the Bonnie Doon Community Group centre. We then see people in the Community Group centre sitting around the table again, laughing and smiling.

VO: We're very pleased that we've got this grant because it brings all the young and old together. It's been marvelous to connect people.

Closing music.

Video: The Australia Post logo sits in the top right corner.

Text: "Introducing Helping Hands: a 2022 Australia Post Community Grant Recipient." A woman wearing Muslim robes and headscarf selects a gilded book from a full shelf, and one of many sets of prayer beads hanging from hooks. The woman is interviewed.

Text: "Hana Umer, Helping Hands Coordinator." Two young Muslim men talk and laugh at a table. There's a Six Degrees sign on a wall. One man picks up a pamphlet that reads, "Are you struggling with your mental health? We're here to help." On the Helping Hands website, 'Resources' is selected. A list appears.

Audio: Hana: So Six Degrees is an organisation initiated by Podium Productions and it's essentially in response to the growing need for mental health services within the Muslim community. We hope to serve the Muslim youth aged between 18-24 years of age and basically just support them in whatever means necessary in relation to their mental health and linking our community with programs and services that suit them.

Video: Young Muslim women sitting in a circle laugh and talk. They wear traditional robes and headdresses. A woman sticks up a poster that reads "Currently in session." 3:30pm is written in pen. A Helping Hands banner stands near a table. The woman waiting at the table stands and greets another young woman. They sit and talk.

Audio: Hana: Helping Hands runs all across Melbourne. We are in the inner city, we're in the west and we're in the south-east and we've basically partnered with mosques and our Islamic societies at universities to kind of provide the support for the people who need it and, really, what we're trying to do here is create a safe place for them. We understand that our community has needs and wants within the mental health space and we just want to make sure that we're serving them in the way that they deserve to be served. We want to create safe spaces and safe environments for our Muslim community and our Muslim youth to access mental health services, especially when we recognise that there are so many barriers to accessing mental health services.

Video: Sitting cross-legged on the floor, three young men laugh and talk. The women talk in their circle. One holds a thick book open in her lap.

Audio: Hana: The Helping Hands program has had a really interesting way of connecting our community together in the way that obviously there's a really individual relationship between the help-seekers and the help-givers where the help-seekers are, hopefully, able to feel vulnerable and kind of let go of their problems over there in that situation. But even on a larger scale and when we're talking about broader conversations, the informal conversations our help-givers have been having with people across the community has been really heartwarming to see and I think it's really shown that we're ready for this conversation and we're ready to take these steps forward.

Video: Two men sit with an ornate book open on a stand between them.

Audio: Hana: The fact that AusPost is able to help with all of this is really telling of how we've come together as a society to kind of improve the mental health outcomes of people in need.

I think my number one tip for groups applying for the Australia Post grant is to be really purposeful in what you're trying to achieve and what outcome you want to have. In saying that, it's really important to consult your community group and make sure that their voice shines through in the application. The funds from Australia Post have really set the foundation and the base for what we can achieve in the future and we're really looking forward to seeing how we can expand.

Video: The Australia Post logo appears on a red background.

Text: "auspost.com.au/grants".