There could be a run on footballs, guitars and plants after Papakura Local Board’s last small grants round.
Drury United Football Club received $1160 for coaching courses, Papakura Music School $1990 for guitars that students can borrow, and the Karaka Lakes Beautification Group $2000 towards plants and materials to continue its work.
Sport featured strongly, with the Papakura Athletics Club getting $2000 towards its popular ‘Kuraconnect’ event, Papakura Netball Centre getting the same to promote the game in the area, and New Netball Team Limited $1000 towards the Northern Stars round robin match and paint the town purple promotion.
Board member Bill McEntee says the grants allow the board to support community groups, many of which struggle for finance.
“These are groups doing good things in our community and without the hard work of the countless numbers of volunteers, our community would be worse off.”
There was $2000 for Papakura Marae Maori Warden uniforms, the same for Life Education Counties/Manukau, with the money to be used for workbooks promoting a healthier community, and $1000 for the Papakura Learn to Swim programme.
Other recipients included the Auckland Country Music Association, the Papakura Business Association and Papakura Neighbourhood Support, which received $1000 towards a safety text alert service.
The board also agreed to fund a Blind Foundation Library multi-board application, where applicants apply to more than one board, for $2000 for digital talking books.
