Marilyn Lambert,John Csorgo, Kate Barratt, Colin Barton, Sue Ashby, Shereem Barker, Chris Risely, Toni Micari at Outer East Foodshare in Lilydale.

Community groups and organisations have until the end of November to apply for four years of funding under Yarra Ranges Council’s Partnership Grants programs.

Applications for organisations and groups delivering programs, services and festivals in the region will close on Thursday, November 30.

Outer East Foodshare was one of the recipients of the 2015-2018 Partnership Grants funding.

The charity works with emergency food relief agencies in outer eastern Melbourne to improve access to fresh food for people in need, notes a Council media release.

Board Member, Marilyn Lambert, said that without the program it would be the clients who would miss out on the frozen and chilled nutritious food that is being brought by the group to the valley.

“The grant from Council enabled us to get started,” Ms Lambert said.

“Now we have a viable operation which is showing that four or five agencies, from different churches are able to work collaboratively together.”

“We now have a working model, which will help make it easier to get other funders on-board if we need.”

Yarra Ranges Mayor, Cr Noel Cliff, said groups can get started on their applications, ahead of upcoming information sessions across the municipality.

“I’m proud that Council is able to partner with so many organisations and groups like the Outer East Foodshare and provide multi-year funding to their events and programs,” Cr Cliff said.

“Having multi-year funding means less time needs to be spent on repeated grant applications and more time can be put towards providing services, programs and cultural connections to the community.

“I encourage any interested groups to book in a drop-in conversation with our Community Partnerships Officer and get their applications underway.”

Outer East Foodshare Board President, John Csorgo, recommended that before applying for grants, that groups take time to consider their objectives.

“We just had a workshop to work out where we want to go over the next few years,” Mr Csorgo said.

“We looked at things like our purpose, goals and objectives. By getting all of this information upfront before looking at any grants, we are then able to look for grants which support where we want to go.”

“We also spent some time talking with the agencies, who in turn spoke to clients, to find out what the real grassroots needs were,” Ms Lambert added.

“So then when we put together an application, we can look at how we will actually measure how our efforts are making a difference, rather than just the ‘feel good’ stuff.”

“We actually want to make an impact and improve people’s lives.”