By Olivia Condous
The Victorian government is supporting local multicultural community groups with further funding designed to support people after the pandemic.
Four groups based within the Melton municipality received grants from the latest round of the Priority Response to Multicultural Communities, a state government initiative that began in 2020.
The groups were a part of 70 multicultural community organisations to receive a share of $3.45 million in funding.
The grants will support community organisations to provide emergency food relief, easier access to mental health and wellbeing services and activities to reduce social isolation.
Local Christian church group Sureway International Christian Ministries was one of the groups to receive a grant of more than $26,000.
The Melton based group work to support multicultural communities in the area by providing food parcels and counselling for families and youth.
Sureway senior pastor Dr William Osagiede said the organisation had been struggling to acquire food for donations recently and the grant would “massively” help.
The organisation work to support a variety of multicultural groups within the Melton community, such as people of African, Samoans, Fijians, Maltese, Italian and Sudanese descent.
“Now we have this grant, we’ll be able to feed more families,” Dr Osagiede said.
“We’ll be able to get more fruit and vegetables, dairy and dry goods.”
The other Melton based groups to recieve funding in the latest round of grants were the Fijian Community Association, Celebrate Diversity Inc and St Mary’s Syro-Malabar Parish Melbourne West Auspice.
