A heartfelt thank you from assistant principal of Kalinda School Bel Wallace was made to the newly-formed Griffith and Leeton branches of Beyond Bank’s Foundation on Monday night.
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A cross-section of the Griffith community gathered at Vita’s Restaurant as Beyond Bank launched their $100,000 foundation to help community groups in the Riverina region.
The bank announced the two recipients of their first $10,000 grants, Kalinda School and the Griffith-Leeton Riding for Disabled Association.
Ms Wallace said the funds would help her school’s 41 students whose moderate to severe intellectual and physical disabilities are greatly assisted by evolving technologies.
“We want to paint a picture of everyone being able to communicate in our town and one way to do that is through technology,” Ms Wallace said.
“This grant will allow us to purchase a number of LCD interactive panels to enhance all student access to these tools within the classroom.
“Imagine being able to look at a screen and have it say you what you are looking at, it gives you a voice and that is what this will do for those who don’t have a voice. Students benefit from the use of technology to assist communication, the development of social skills and to achieve academic success every day. We thank Beyond Bank for their generous contribution, and look forward to sharing our students’ success with the community.”
The Griffith-Leeton Riding for the Disabled also received a $10,000 grant and head coach Cherie Berton thanked Beyond Bank for their support.
“The donation will go towards replacing our caretaker’s cottage,” she said. “As we are a non-profit organisation and receive no government funding, it is extremely difficult to find the funds for projects such as these. The role of our caretaker is extremely instrumental in the day to day running of our centre and the care of our horses. It would be difficult to run our centre without one.”
The commitment of $100,000 from Beyond Bank will be maintained long-term through a share of bank profits.
“Today we have formalised just one measure through which we hope to play a role in supporting the Riverina community, and this is by establishing a Foundation that enables us to provide funds to local not-for-profit organisations when they need help with funding for new equipment, initiatives and activities,” Beyond Bank chief Robert Keogh said. “We were always keen to make sure we didn’t delay becoming involved in and supporting the local community. We are thrilled it’s going to people who support the community and hopefully you’re as proud of them as we are.”