South Wairarapa District Council is thrilled to champion 19 innovative sustainability projects, which will benefit from $340,000 distributed to them from the Community Wellbeing Fund.

“It is an honour to support the kaupapa of so many fantastic community groups who work hard to make South Wairarapa an amazing place to live in through initiatives that look after the environment or the people or both. It is inspiring to see the vision they have and a pleasure to help them in this way,” says Councillor Rebecca Gray.

The funding was made available from Te Tari Taiwhenua, the Department of Internal Affairs, from the Better Off support packages were provided to Local Authorities under the Three Waters Reform. The Community Wellbeing Fund is a one off pool of $500,000 from the DIA. Applications were assessed in October by the Fund Subcommittee, made up of councillors, the Council Chief Executive, representatives from Community Boards and the Māori Standing Committee.

The largest grant in this funding round was $49,000 to Hau Ariki Marae in Martinborough to support rain water collection for its potable water supply. This further strengthens the marae’s ability to be a well resourced Emergency Assistance Centre for the community.

The second largest grants were $33,000 each towards solar power for the Featherston Community Centre and Greytown School. Martinborough School was given $10,000 for its Garden to Table project while other projects include coastal protection and restoration for Tora ($10,000);
development of a native nursery potting shed for Pae tu Mokai on Tauira in Featherston ($10,000) and building upgrades for the Featherston RSA, among many more. All are included in the attached document.

“It’s extremely exciting and rewarding to grant this level of funding to help bring community centric, largescale projects to fruition,” says Lina McManus, council Funding and Grants Coordinator. “This was an incredibly competitive round with over 50 applications, 30 of which were presented in person and 19 granted because they bring measurable long term benefits to the community.”

The first round of Community Wellbeing Funds were distributed in July this year to five community groups who were awarded a collective $160,000 funding towards wellbeing projects. This was to be followed by two further rounds but a higher than anticipated number of applications led the subcommittee to condense this into one final round for aspiring applicants.

Councillor Gray extends her gratitude to the previous council for its foresight in initiating the Community Wellbeing Fund process. “I also thank my fellow councillors for ensuring this money reaches people who do so much good work with it.”

Unsuccessful applicants were encouraged to look at the new Fund Finder on the council website at South Wairarapa Fund Finder. This all encompassing tool has the potential to find funds for community and individual projects, large and small.