After assessing 3,098 applications for our Volunteer Support Grant, I am very pleased to announce that Carissa Lockley is our inaugural recipient!
Carissa has been a volunteer Guest Ambassador at Ronald McDonald House Southeast Queensland for over six years. She helps families settle into the house, the city and their new surrounds, and helps with any questions they have. There are families that check into the house where the parents or the children are deaf, so she would love to be able to communicate with them easily. Carissa applied for the grant so that she can attend AUSLAN community classes through Deaf Services Queensland.
We can't wait to follow Carissa's AUSLAN journey and report on how it has impacted her work as a volunteer.
I am also happy to announce that in addition to the grant, we are awarding our top five applicants a free 12 month Premium membership to The Grants Hub to give to their organisation. So additional congratulations to:
Carissa Lockley - Ronald McDonald House Southeast Queensland
Michelle Denford - Ready Step Grow
Clair Halkias - Mums Exercise Group Australia
Paul Millar - Marine Rescue Cottage Point
Kate Schkabaryn - Parkinson's South Australia
I would like to thank our external panel who assessed our grant recipient shortlist. It was a very tough job selecting one winner from so many truly worthy and dedicated volunteers from across Australia.
Whilst we weren't able to raise any additional funds through our crowdfunding campaign for this grant round, we do have multiple small businesses who have come on board for future rounds. So stay tuned!
Make sure you're on our newsletter list to hear about future rounds.
Jessie Ballantyne
Founder & Managing Director
