Greater Bank has shared an important community funding milestone with Kelly’s Plains Public School P&C when it was named winner of the #GreaterNewEngland program winner for October.
The program, which was established in Armidale in September 2016, has now provided $250,000 to support 150 charity and community groups across the New England region.
Kelly’s Plains Public School P&C is the program’s latest major beneficiary, taking out the public vote and with it the $3000 major prize. Runners-up for the month, Tamworth Little Athletics Club and Boggabri Rugby League Football Club both received $1,000.
Located in the rural locality 8kms west south west of Armidale, the historic Kelly’s Plains Public School has a strong community base, with 24 children currently enrolled and plenty of room for growth.
According to P&C representative, Sarah Flavel, the funding represents an important step in replacing the school’s playground equipment that was removed in 2018 due to OH&S issues.
“The school is such an important community hub, not only for the students but also their siblings that visit here,” Sarah said.
“The playground equipment was not only a place where kids could play and enjoy themselves, it was an important part of their daily exercise and physical skill development. When the old equipment was taken away, it left a real gap in the community.
“It was P&C’s aim to fundraise enough money to purchase and install new equipment. Our efforts were pretty much written off this year because of COVID, which really set us back in achieving our target of $50,000.
“Being part of such a small community, fundraising can be really tough, especially when you’re constantly tapping the same people and families on the shoulder to either donate time or money.
“This gesture from Greater Bank represents nearly 12 months of fundraising activities, which is enormous for us. The school was so excited to get the news and it’s certainly kickstarted our efforts to bring this playground to life.”
The community fund program was originally established by Greater Bank in September 2016 to support the Armidale community. Due to its overwhelming success in its first 17 month of operations, the program was expanded in February 2018 to become the #GreaterNewEngland program and take in Tamworth, Gunnedah and the surrounding areas.
Greater Bank’s Regional Manager, Jennifer Smith, said that as a customer-owned bank, providing this ongoing support is something she finds truly rewarding.