Half a Million Dollars to Children’s Charity from LotteryWest

A children’s charity which runs support programs for Western Australian children and families will benefit from more than $550,000 in LotteryWest funding.

WA Community Services Minister Robyn McSweeney presented the money to the Meerilinga Children and Family Centre in Cockburn today.

The funds will go towards the refurbishment of the Cockburn centre and provide the organisation with an information technology upgrade.

“Meerilinga has an outstanding track record of promoting positive childhoods and providing support to parents,” the Minister said.

Meerilinga is a Not for Profit organisation and a registered charity. It works with children, their families, early childhood professionals and the wider community to improve the quality of life for children in WA.

The organisation has four children and family centres located across the metropolitan region including Beechboro, Cockburn, Kingsley and Woodvale.

Thousands of community, local government and charitable organisations, as well as sporting organisations, arts and cultural groups and the state’s health services are supported each year by the lottery giant.

LotteryWest, originally known as the Lotteries Commission of Western Australia, was established in 1932 to offer state authorised Lottery products which would raise money for hospitals and charitable organisations.

LotteryWest, now operating under the Lotteries Commission Act (1990) continues to have responsibility for running the official State Lottery in Western Australia and for raising and distributing the funds for the beneficiaries in the way in which the Act sets out.

In 2010/11, LotteryWest’s customers bought lottery products totalling over $683 million. The contribution to the community sector was $240.3 million – around 34 cents in every dollar.