Myrtleford's youth in safe hands thanks to former Myrtleford Rotary Club's new collaboration

Even though Myrtleford Rotary Club was officially disbanded at the end of 2025, its aim to continue to support the youth of Myrtleford and surrounds has now been made possible through the support of GROW Myrtleford+, a sub-fund of 'Into Our Hands' Community Foundation. When Rotary ended, there was $48,000 of funds remaining, which has now been passed to the Into Our Hands foundation and will be overseen and allocated by GROW Myrtleford+. In addition to supporting annual school awards, Myrtleford Rotary Club has made provision for one-off grants to be available to youth aged 10 to 22 from Myrtleford and surrounds, to support their growth in the areas of leadership, participation, community development and education. Vice chair of Into Our Hands and chair of GROW Myrtleford+, Fiona Nicholls, said youth development was something the organisation was already keen on. "We are really pleased to be able to continue the program Rotary had for youth development," she said. "GROW Myrtleford+ has been the very fortunate recipients of the donation from Myrtleford Rotary Club and we'll be continuing the scholarships with schools and other programs promoting development for youth in our community. "This will also add to our program of supporting projects which people in Myrtleford are passionate about, including the toy library, improvement to the bowls or golf clubs, Landcare and so on. "It's also fabulous when we can support our foundational emergency responders and supporters such as our SES and CFA members, so they can acquire pieces of equipment which help the whole community." Ms Nicholls acknowledged GROW Myrtleford+ is run by volunteers and said she was pleased to welcome former secretary of Myrtleford Rotary Club, Helen Hunter, to the committee. Ms Hunter said the new partnership was the best way to continue Rotary's legacy by continuing to support Myrtleford's youth. "The whole reason for doing this is the past members of Myrtleford Rotary Club still wanted to support our youth, which has been our main focus for many of years, particularly with the Youth Exchange program and supporting our local Scouts," she said. "We want it to help make a difference to people, as our priority is always community development, leadership, education and participation. "In addition, part of the reason for me joining was, although we were able to put this money into a fund, we didn't want to increase their workload. "That's really important, so we've taken as many steps as we can to make it as easy as possible for the transition. "I'll be supporting GROW Myrtleford+ with the applications people send in." Ms Hunter said there are restrictions on what the funding can be used for. The minimum grant amount will be to the value of $500. This grant is continually open and will be decided on a case-by-case basis. To request a sponsorship, firstly send an email to info@intoourhands.com.au, to the attention of GROW Myrtleford+ to confirm sponsorship of the award will be provided. Once confirmation is received, send an invoice to: info@intoourhands.com.au, attention GROW Myrtleford+ and the funds will be deposited into the nominated account. Information will be available on the Into Our Hands website and applications and enquiries can be made by email to info@intoourhands.com.au, attention GROW Myrtleford+ The GROW Myrtleford+ signature event is the annual Twilight Carols, which will run again this December. "It's just fabulous how much the local town does come out to support the carols," Ms Nichols said. "Both with the finances to be able to host, but also with the labour and volunteer time to actually put it on. "We must also thank the Alpine Shire and Bendigo Bank, who have provided us with grants in the past."

Myrtleford's youth in safe hands thanks to former Myrtleford Rotary Club's new collaboration

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