COMMUNITIES BACK IN THE KITCHEN THANKS TO FOUNDATION

The little town with a big heart is the winner of The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS) Foundation 2017 Community Kitchen Grant to improve an existing kitchen facility for the benefit of their community.

The Grant is made up of $10,000 to fund benches and cabinetry in addition to more than $12,000 of kitchen appliances from Euromaid which are used by professionals for cooking demonstrations in the Woolworths Fresh Food Dome.

Secretary of the Boggabri Showground and Public Reserve Trust in north western NSW, Kerry Thomson, submitted the winning application and said it feels “like winning the lottery”.

“We are so grateful to have won, our town is in desperate need of a kitchen and this will be really positive for the community because we use our Showground so often,” Ms Thomson said.

“It’s fantastic that a remote, regional centre gets this opportunity especially for our children who can’t get into the city easily so it’s going to be well appreciated.”

The vibrant show society Mendooran PA &H Association Inc is the lucky runner-up and will received more than $10,000 worth of modern kitchen appliances from Euromaid.

Secretary Pip Archer said the prize is a much needed boost for the hardworking community of Mendooran which has battled drought.

“Having a fully commercial kitchen to complement our upgraded facilities is an essential part of our long term plan of increasing regular usage, generating increased revenue and continuing to attract new users and ultimately growing our community,” Ms Archer said.

“From the bottom of our hearts we thank the RAS Foundation and Euromaid for their generosity; this will make a real difference in our community and help us to grow.”

RAS Foundation Executive Officer, Kate Ross, said the calibre of entries was high with almost 60 applications received.

“It was tremendously difficult to choose a winner as there are just so many worthy communities,” Ms Ross said.

“Boggabri’s application demonstrated an active, close knit community able to achieve great things with a fabulous new kitchen.

“A key factor was that the kitchen will receive broad use by different community groups and can attract new groups or events, resulting in additional revenue streams for local organisations.”

The charitable RAS Foundation (rasf.org.au) encourages educational opportunities and helps build strong, sustainable rural and regional communities through targeted grants and scholarships.