Visit brings Narre grants

DEPUTY Premier John Thwaites made a whirlwind visit to Casey last Friday to announce new volunteer grants for two Narre Warren community centres.
The Minister for Victorian Communities visited Narre Warren’s Talbingo Children’s Centre and announced a $3700 grant for the facility to recruit volunteers to help build a garden and stage to host children’s plays and concerts.
Mr Thwaites said the volunteers would work together to build a space where families and staff could socialise and watch the children perform.
“The volunteers will play a large role in helping create a welcoming space for the children and their families,” he said.
Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan said the project was also an opportunity for people to get involved in the life of the centre and learn more about its important role in the community.
“Bringing people of different ages and backgrounds together to work on such an exciting project is a great way to encourage more community involvement in the centre,” he said.
Mr Thwaites also announced a $3000 grant to the Narre Community Learning Centre to recruit people from different backgrounds and cultures to become involved in the centre’s organising committees.
Mr Donnellan said volunteering strengthened local communities, leading to better social, health and educational outcomes.
Mr Thwaites, who also manages the Environment and Water portfolio, also paid a visit to Maramba Primary School in Narre Warren to discuss Victoria’s biggest indoor water-saving program.
He said the Schools Water Efficiency Program could save hundreds of millions of litres of water per year in Victorian schools over the next 12 months
Maramba Primary School was one of the first schools to sign up for the $3 million program and Mr Thwaites said Victoria’s 830,000 students and 249,000 staff used more than eight billion litres of water a year.
Under the program, Maramba will save more than 18 per cent of its water use, 1.3 million litres, and up to $2000 a year on water bills.
“The water savings under the Schools Water Efficiency Program — the first program of its type in the world — could eventually add up to a billion litres of water a year in the state’s 2300 schools,” Mr Thwaites said.
“This vast volume of water represents enormous potential savings that the program could achieve,” Mr Thwaites said.
Mr Donnellan said the program’s audit process had shown that most schools could achieve significant savings through retrofitting simple water-efficiency measures such as fixing leaks, fitting flow-control valves and fine-tuning existing appliances and fixtures.
He said he was delighted that Maramba was one of the first schools in the state to sign up for the water-saving program.
Organisations interested in applying for volunteer grants should visit www.grants.dvc.vic.gov.au or call 1300 366 356 on any weekday between 8.30am and 10pm (except public holidays) for more information and an application form.