Cooktown RSL manager Julie Delaney with Cooktown community care coordinators Jeneen Clark and Jasmine Sieverding.
COOKTOWN RSL Memorial Club has pledged almost quarter of a million dollars to a community health program supporting some of the community’s most vulnerable residents.
The RSL will donate $200,000 over two years to support the work of the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service’s community care program, which provides aged care and disability services.
Cooktown RSL Memorial Club treasurer Janne Stewart said each year the club chose a community group or cause to support.
“We had a chat to a local councillor who suggested the Community Care Program would be a really good cause,” Ms Stewart said last week.
“They do great work for the people of Cooktown and it’s really important for us to give back to the community.”
TCHHS Cooktown community care coordinator Jasmine Sieverding said the group was ecstatic with the generous donation which would be used for several projects.
This will include providing medical alert systems for clients in their own homes, building a community garden and commissioning a book being published by the RSL club about elderly members of the community.
“On behalf of both the Cooktown Community Care Program and the entire health service, I thank the RSL for their donation which is going to improve the lives of people in our small community,” Ms Sieverding said.
TCHHS executive director of allied health Amanda Wilson said the club’s donation was a wonderful example of grassroots community spirit.
“Cooktown is a small town and there is no doubt those from the club will likely know many of the beneficiaries of their generosity,” she said.
“We thank them for reaching out to help those in need within their community.”
