New Youth Participation Fund Announced for Casino

Momentum Collective, the not-for-profit organisation managing the Casino Neighbourhood Centre, has secured a $76,363 grant through the Youth Participation Fund, a component of the Resilient Kids Program managed by Social Futures. This significant funding will support the organization’s efforts to engage and empower youth currently disengaged from school.

The Resilient Kids Program aims to foster resilience and active youth participation. Momentum Collective won this grant through a competitive tender process to implement a transformative program over the next twelve months.

Designed to run during the school term, the program targets students disconnected from traditional educational environments. Each term, Momentum Collective will conduct four dynamic workshops in partnership with local Elders, entrepreneurs, and community and emergency services. These workshops will focus on skill-building, social integration, community awareness, and having fun, culminating in a community celebration to showcase the participants’ progress and achievements.

Fiona Miller, Operations Manager at Momentum Collective, is enthusiastic about launching the first program next month. The team is finalising plans to ensure the program delivers impactful and engaging experiences for the youth involved.

“The first round of workshops, ‘Garden to Table,’ will focus on sourcing food, budgeting, shopping, meal prep, and serving. Through these activities, we believe participants will gain confidence, develop meaningful relationships, and build a strong sense of belonging. These are the key outcomes we aim to achieve with our program,” said Ms. Miller.

Momentum Collective remains committed to making a positive difference in the lives of young people.

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Local slow cooked pies are gold standard

By Samantha Elley

Dan and Emily Clark had their eye on the pie prize when Dan flew down to Melbourne recently to enter some of their pies in the Baking Association of Australia’s Best Pie competition.

“They have a trade show that ties in with (the pie competition),” said Emily.

“We decided we would enter a couple of our pies in it.

“So Dan flew them down as special cargo down to Melbourne.”

To their surprise and delight they walked away with a gold, a silver and two bronze medals for their efforts.

“We entered our plain pie, our Mexican pie, satay chicken and our Lamb, Rosemary and Mash,” said Emily.

“We enter the pies not to win, just to gauge where we sit with other bakers, to make sure we are doing the right thing and heading in the right direction.

“We were really, really stoked.”

They won gold for the lamb pie, silver for the satay and bronze for both the plain and Mexican pies.

“We only came up with the lamb, rosemary and mash 2-3 weeks before the pie comp was on,” said Dan.

“It was a brand new one that we’d never tried before.”

The business opened in February 2023 and has been serving up a wide range of baked goods, all made from scratch, to the Casino public ever since.

“Dan was working in a bakery in Lismore,” said Emily

“He is a qualified baker and he had always had this idea in his head that one day he would like to get here.”

The couple had started a grazing box business which outgrew their home and knew they had to either finish up or continue expanding what they had started.

From there, Wild Soul Bakehouse was born.

They often rotate new flavours of pies every two weeks to provide variety, but after their success in competition, Dan and Emily are keen to keep the lamb pie on as a regular.

And their secret?

“We do all our pies from scratch, pastries from scratch, we don’t buy in anything,” said Dan.

“With our lamb, we slow cook the meat, so we take our time and let the flavours develop.”

You can sample the award winning pies at Wild Soul Bakehouse, 70 Centre Street, Casino.

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Upcoming Improvements on McDonalds Bridge Road

Daily users of McDonalds Bridge Road will be pleased to hear that further improvement work is scheduled to commence in August, weather permitting.

An investment of over $2 million will fund the repair of approximately four kilometres of the road. This project will include widening the shoulders from the base of the hill east of Edenville Road to Stratheden Road. Upon completion, the entire width of the road will be resealed.

The scope of the project also includes widening and installing scour rock protection on culverts, setting up guideposts, and cleaning table drains.

Richmond Valley Council‘s General Manager, Vaughan Macdonald, emphasised the Council’s commitment to restoring the local transportation network to meet community expectations.

Mr. Macdonald highlighted that the Council is working collaboratively with the NSW and Australian governments to not only restore but also enhance the road network’s resilience, supported by funding from all three levels of government.

“The safety and efficiency of people and freight movements on our roads are paramount,” said Mr. Macdonald. “The floods of 2022 resulted in a road repair bill exceeding $100 million. Unfortunately, our road network faced additional strain over the past eight months, with record rainfall causing extensive pothole damage.

“While significant progress has been made in restoring our local roads and ensuring their safety and efficiency, Council relies heavily on government funding to repair and upgrade our damaged roads to a more resilient standard.

“Despite these challenges, our capital program acknowledges the crucial role of local roads and infrastructure in building resilient, connected communities and supporting economic growth in the Richmond Valley.”

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