Five community-led projects to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in the regions have been awarded grants of up to $50,000, as part this year’s Healthy Towns Challenge.
Minister for Health and Wellbeing Stephen Wade said the Marshall Liberal Government is committed to increase investment in preventative health measures to improve physical, mental and social wellbeing of all South Australians. Wellbeing SA has been established to spearhead these efforts.
“The Healthy Towns Challenge encourages regional towns to develop and implement creative and innovative preventive health projects within their local community,” Minister Wade said.
“Whether it’s through planting a community garden, holding cooking lessons from the local primary school’s canteen, or establishing dedicated programs for targeted groups of young people, the five winners of round three demonstrate a wide range of ways communities can work together to improve their overall health and wellbeing.
“I congratulate the five successful applicants and look forward to seeing their results later next year.”
The SA Healthy Towns Challenge was an election commitment from the Marshall Liberal Government, with $250,000 funding per round over four years allocated in the 2018 State Budget.
Wellbeing SA Chief Executive, Lyn Dean, said the Healthy Towns Challenge is part of the State Government’s Healthy Communities Program, which supports community-wide health and prevention action to help reduce preventable disease and injury and improve health and wellbeing.
“This year we received 36 applications for round three of the SA Healthy Towns Challenge, an increase from 27 applications last year,” Ms Dean said.
“In regional areas, community organisations play a vital role in supporting their residents to engage with each other, be active and eat well, and it was encouraging to see the high calibre of applications we received this year.”
The successful projects are:
* SOS Copper Coast, Suicide Prevention Network (Kadina, Wallaroo, Moonta, Paskeville and surrounding districts) – establish a community garden/peace park to address suicide prevention
* Macclesfield Community Association (Macclesfield) – new walking path with exercise equipment to encourage walking groups and exercise classes, as well as tree planning and seating
* Sonder Care (Gawler, Tanunda, Kapunda, Nuriootpa) – develop and deliver a school holiday program targeted at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people
* Millicent North Primary School (Millicent)– extend and repurpose the school canteen to also serve as a classroom kitchen for cooking lessons using produce from the school and community gardens
* Kickstart for Kids (Mid-Murray Council region) – school holiday wellbeing camps for children in the region with preventive health education included in the program.
Each year, a Health Towns Challenge overall award is given to the project that achieves the most improvements towards healthier living.
Successful recipients from round two were given a six-month extension until December 2020 to complete their projects due to COVID-19, with the overall award winner to be announced in early 2021.
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