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May 12, 2023
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SIG N U P N O W!
Book in for literary fest The Queenscliffe Literary Festival kicks off its ninth year from May 12 with 33 events over three weekends, an increase of nine from 2022. There will be 59 presenters including award-winning journalist Andrew Quilty, esteemed authors Alex Miller and Jock Serong, Nobel Prize winner Peter Doherty and climate expert Ross Garnaut. “The range of the program covers everything from the political and environmental landscape to resilience from music to art and that diversity provides audiences with an opportunity to think and reflect on new concepts and ideas,” festival committee member Jacinta Farrugia said. Ms Farrugia said the festival provided an economic boost and that the ceramic swans around town were popular. “Collette Stewart, committee member and ideas powerhouse, saw 80 porcelain swans for sale on Kerley’s Auction site and immediately instigated a fun art project tying in with our iconic swan logo. You can go for a wander around the town to see the QLF swan artworks. What local artists, community members and business owners have created with paint and hard work is nothing short of breathtaking.”
Jacinta Farrugia is looking forward to this year’s Queenscliffe Literary Festival. (Ivan Kemp) 332851_08
Food relief is on the way Local organisations supporting people experiencing life-inhibiting crises such as food insecurity or homelessness have shared in $420,000 in grans from the Give Where You Live Foundation. The foundation awarded its 2023 Survive & Thrive grants, worth up to $40,000 each, to 15 organisations. Bellarine Living and Learning Centre is one of the recipient organisations, receiving $30,000 to employ a project co-ordinator to continue developing food security programs in the 3219 postcode.
The centre’s services have been invaluable to community members such as Melissa, whose husband was out of work for over 12 months during the pandemic. With four children under the age of 11 to look after, Melissa said things would have been very different for her family without the Bellarine Living and Learning Centre’s food bank. “We were left to rely on our savings; we couldn’t afford petrol to drive to another food bank,” she said. “The food bank here was a place where I could go to get fresh veggies and groceries for
my family and have a chat with everyone there.” Two years later, Melissa and her family are thriving thanks to that support, and Melissa now volunteers at the centre’s food bank to help others in need. “I feel blessed that this service is available, it has made us stronger as a family,” Melissa said. “I now volunteer here and it’s a real community that helps each other.” Give Where You Live acting chief executive Meg Price said the grants would have a wide impact on the community. “As the cost of groceries and living expenses
rise, so does the number of people in our community reaching out to food relief agencies for support with food assistance,” Ms Price said. “Give Where You Live Foundation has deep relationships with community organisations across the region and we continue to see increasing levels of demand in the community services and emergency relief sector, with some agencies reporting an increase in demand of 239 per cent since 2020-21. “We estimate these grants will provide over 25,000 meals to support food relief and reduce food insecurity.”
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