$70k for Jewish House, OBK
Member for Vaucluse Gabrielle Upton announced the funding in Parliament last month, with Jewish House receiving $50,000 and OBK $20,000.
JEWISH House and Our Big Kitchen (OBK) are the beneficiaries of $70,000 in state government funding under the 2021 Social Sector Transformation Fund.
Member for Vaucluse Gabrielle Upton announced the funding in Parliament last month, with Jewish House receiving $50,000 and OBK $20,000. A number of secular community organisations have also benefited.
“Social service providers are the backbone of our local community,” Upton told the Legislative Council.
“They support the most vulnerable and have played a crucial role during the COVID lockdown period offering mental health support, food and crisis accommodation to anyone who needs it.
“I’ve seen the amazing work of these organisations firsthand. Congratulations and thank you for the work you do.”
Upton told The AJN, “The Social Sector Transformation Fund was created to help local community organisations modernise their operations so they can better get on with delivering their life-changing services.
“Both Jewish House, led by Rabbi [Mendel] Kastel, and Our Big Kitchen, led by Rabbi Dr [Dovid] Slavin, are outstanding examples of organisations that thoroughly deserve this extra support from the NSW government.”
Rabbi Slavin thanked Upton for her “ongoing staunch support”.
“We are most appreciative of the funding that will help us feed the needy at this very critical time in our state’s history,” he said.
Rabbi Kastel said the funding has been allocated to Jewish House’s “Couchsurfer” program, which connects homeless people that are sleeping on other people’s couches with services and longer term accommodation, while supporting them and their hosts in the short-term.
“We have lots of ideas and lots of things that we want to be able to achieve. And it’s when funding like this comes along that it gives you a push along to be able to get a project through the door,” he said.
“We’re very excited and grateful to the government for recognising our innovation and our programs. In some ways it’s a bit of a feather in our cap that they recognise us as a organisation to help deliver a program like this.”
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