By Jess Baker
Two Southern Downs community groups have secured a $50,000 funding boost to help them recover from the effects of drought and Covid-19.
Member for Maranoa David Littleproud announced on Wednesday 18 August that Maryvale Community Hall Inc and the Southern Downs Steam Railway Association would receive $48,238 under round 21 of the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal’s Tackling Tough Times Together program.
“I’m pleased to see the Maryvale Community Hall Inc has been awarded $29,580 to freshening up the community hub. This project will help to reduce isolation through rejuvenating a meeting space that supports community connectedness for drought affected residents,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Additionally, the Southern Downs Steam Railway Association will receive $18,658 to install rainwater storage within the precinct.”
Maryvale Community Hall Inc secretary Shane Kimber said the funding brought the total amount the hall had received in grants since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic to around $100,000.
“We’ve got nice new curtains on the stage, we’ve put in a PA system that we didn’t have before, we’ve put in a screen and a protector, we’ve updated the lighting, we’ve got funding for air conditioning, we’ve put on solar power and updated the power board,” Ms Kimber said.
“We’ve refurbished the floor, we’ve had wired all the smoke alarms, (and) we’ve got a defibrillator.”
She said the hall had been “really lucky” in receiving funding and would benefit significantly from the items purchased over the last year.
“The majority of people who use the hall on a regular basis are the older members of the community,” Ms Kimber said.
“We need to take care of them with what we’ve got in the hall, but we also need to think about how we can increase income for the hall because insurance money is a lot of money and if you don’t have an income coming in to look after that, you really don’t have a hall.”
Southern Downs Steam Railway is also set to benefit from round 21 of the program, with plans to use the funds secured to purchase new rain water storage tanks and pipes.
SDSR secretary Kevin Patterson said the upgrade will mean the association will have water even when it’s dry.
“Steam trains use a lot of water, and it has to be good water which is why we need rain water,” Mr Patterson said.
“If we don’t have rain water, if we want to use other water, we’ve got to put all sorts of expensive chemicals in it. So the more rainwater we have, the better chance we have of not having to spend more money than necessary.”
Across Maranoa, 10 projects will benefit from $230,000 of federal funding under the latest round of the Tackling Tough Times Together grant program. Nationwide, 32 projects will share in a total of $1.08 million.
