Canon Oceania has announced the winners of its 2022 Grants Program that recognised five Australian organisations that are paving the way towards a better future for their local communities.
The program provides each grant recipient with $5,000 worth of cash and Canon products from cameras to printers and other accessories. The funds help the winning projects continue their work in education, community, environment and flood recovery.
The winner of the Education grant was the Kamaruka School, Victoria, a specialist school for neurodivergent boys from Years 2 to 10, who often have difficulties navigating the mainstream education system or require support for their special needs such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or high functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The grant will be used to provide students with professional equipment to enhance their technology skills.
Kamaruka School principal Michelle Zintschenko said: “We are a small school so were overwhelmed by the support from our school and wider community in sharing our story.” Kamaruka has undergone a few difficult years, not just with Covid, but also losing the founding principal Alfonso Scibilia in 2020, who was principal at the time of his death.
“Our students have shown a keen interest in filmmaking however have been limited in using their iPads and phones. This Canon Oceania grants program will allow them to create higher quality videos for educational, creative and promotional purposes,” she said.
GingerSnap Patisserie was the winner of the Community grant. Co-founders Brett Colgan, who is deaf and a ‘phenomenal’ pastry chef and his sister Jessica said the grant will be used to capture content for its social channels to elevate the stories of people with disability who have photography skills.
The online business is also a social enterprise that creates plant-based desserts to celebrate the limitless potential of people with disability giving them the opportunity to share their stories. You can read more about these talented siblings in the December issue of Link disability magazine.
Other grant winners were Remember the Wild (Environment) and Australian Seabird & Turtle (Flood Recovery). The Community runner-up was Little Wings, that provides free flight and ground transport services for seriously ill children in rural and regional NSW.
Photo: Kamaruka school students