Community Sponsorship Program

APPICATIONS FOR OUR 2024 COMMUNITY SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM

Our Community Sponsorship Program will be open for applications Between 21 February 2024 – 31 March 2024.
To apply, please complete the application form below and email to sebsworth@lockmore.com.au or drop into our 3 branches.

Application Form – here

FAQS – here

Rochester Flood Relief Grants Program (for organisations)

We are so proud to offer our Rochester Flood Relief Grants Program (for organisations) to provide a helping hand to the local community groups that were affected by the October 2022 flood event. This program is designed to assist these groups to replace and repair property and equipment that was damaged by the floods. It also supports events & projects aimed at assisting in our town’s recovery and bringing our locals back together again.

We know that flood recovery is progressing different for everyone, so this program will remain open until further notice. We also have developed a simplified application process for this program – as we know our locals are sick of paperwork.

For further information, please contact our Executive Officer Lauren Ross on 0413 417 055 or Lross@lockmore.com.au.

Application Form – here.

Rochester Community Access Flood Relief Fund (for individuals)

Immediately following the October 2022 floods, the team at Rochester Community House established a flood recovery bank account to collect donation funds to be distributed to flood-affected residents. In June 2023, the team announced the launch of the Rochester Community Access Flood Relief Fund to distribute these funds and we at Community Bank Elmore, Lockington and Rochester were so proud to provide an additional $250,000 towards this program, matching the funds that had been raised.

Further to this, an extra $150,000 was committed to allow an additional payment to applicants that bank with Community Bank Elmore, Lockington and Rochester – helping to acknowledge that it’s these individuals that make community support like this possible. Bendigo Bank’s charitable arm – the Community Enterprise Foundation – also pitched in $50,000 to allow a partnership with Australian Neighbourhood Houses and Centres Association to assist with the distribution of funds and management of the program.

For more information and to apply for this program, visit: https://www.anhca.org/rochesterfloodrelieffund

University & TAFE Scholarships

APPLICATIONS FOR OUR 2023 UNIVERSITY & TAFE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM ARE NOW CLOSED

We first launched our University & TAFE Scholarship Program in 2023. It exists to support local first year Uni & TAFE Students with start-up costs associated with their studies – such as travel accommodation & school supplies.

Whilst we committed to providing 4 scholarships in 2023, we received applications from 8 outstanding locals. Each of these locals is intelligent, passionate about their community, motivated to succeed… and each of them was severely affected by the 2022 floods. Due to the extenuating circumstances, we were so proud to support them all with a full scholarship of $3,000 each. Meet our 2023 recipients below.

Recent initiatives & recipient stories

August/September 2022 Community Sponsorship Program Recipients

Community Cars Program

Did you know that accessing transport is one of the biggest barriers to accessing health services in regional Victoria? That’s why our local healthcare providers; Elmore Primary Health, REDHS and Lockington Bush Nursing Centre, all provide community transport services to our residents so that they can access the healthcare that they need.

The cars are driven by local volunteers, who can drive our residents to their neighbouring GP, or even as far as Melbourne if need be. The services also provide assistance for our locals to attend social groups and events, keeping them engaged with their local community.

We are so proud to have long standing partnerships with each of our local healthcare providers to ensure this vital service is available to our community members.

Community Bank Elmore, Lockington and Rochester Pavilion

We have had a long standing partnership with the Elmore Field Days, and until recently, a major portion of the sponsorship funds were directed towards the Ag Art Competition. With 2022 being the final year of this competition, it was time for us to review where our sponsorship funds were best directed. With close community consultation, it was decided that an update to one of the major pavilions (previously known as the ‘Taste More’ pavilion) would be an ideal use of funds.

The renewed partnership will see us reinvigorate the pavilion over the next 5 years, with some major upgrades on the cards; including installation of community Wi-Fi, pop up sprinkler installation, camp kitchen installation and more. The Elmore Field Days site is a wonderful community asset, so improving its functionality will be a huge win for all its users.

The Community Bank Elmore, Lockington and Rochester Pavilion is located directly across from the Agribusiness Pavilion.

Elmore Field Days Sustainability Grants Program

The Elmore Field Days is a huge event for our community – so its cancellation in 2020 & 2021 due to COVID had an enormous impact.

Running the field days requires a tremendous amount of effort from volunteers – whether it be setting up, parking cars, helping out with catering and plenty more. The volunteer effort is assisted by local community organisations, and for many, the income they generate from this helps to keep their business afloat.

To assist these community organisations, we provided grant amounts equalt to their average 2018 & 2019 EFD income, to a maximum of $2,000. A total of 16 local organisations were supported through this initiative.