A project to populate gardens with native pollinators is flying the flag for creative applications to Lake Macquarie City Council's Community Environment Grants program.
After receiving a recent Council grant The Groundswell Collective made a beeline to help residents increase biodiversity in their yards by hosting 'pollinator pot' workshops.
Almost 100 community members took part across four workshops, where 324 native plants were distributed and 117 new bee habitats created for local homes.
The Groundswell Collective Director Partnerships and Programs, and 2025 Lake Mac Ambassador nominee, Anna Noon said the program created an instant buzz.
"The project aimed to provide a hands-on, practical, and positive response to the detection of Varroa mite, and the subsequent eradication of all our local European Honeybees, by increasing participants' knowledge and support for native pollinators no matter how big a space they had," she said.
"In addition to creating pollinator pots, participants also assisted in packaging up 148 pollinator friendly seed packets which were distributed among our five local seed library branches, where they made their way to gardens and yards around Lake Macquarie.
"We had wonderful feedback from all who participated, and it was exciting to empower local people to take ownership over a national environmental issue."
Council will award up to $40,000 to non-profit community groups to implement their own innovative environmentally sustainable practices as part of the 2025 grants program.
Applications are now open for up to $5000, with Mayor Adam Shultz putting the call out for more creative concepts like Coal Ash Alliance's recent grant funded workshops.
"This group collected coal ash from mine ash dams and created ceramic material with the ash, then used a 3D printer to create ceramic artworks – a fantastic initiative from the local community," he said.
"We also had seven new garden beds installed in schools and community places in the last six months. They included bush tucker gardens, sensory gardens – really a garden for everyone which was just fantastic to see."
Grants will be considered for ideas that help promote environmentally sustainable behaviour in the community, reduce the community's carbon footprint, improve biodiversity, reduce waste or encourage recycling and upcycling.
Other recent recipients included Valetine Sustainable Neighbourhood Group, which ran community solar workshops to educate people about home energy use and investing in renewables, and Wyee Community Hub's productive worm farm program which revolutionised their approach to processing food waste.
"The program gave out more than $37,000 to community groups, and those groups contributed in excess of $46,000, for a total of $83,000; It's just fantastic to get those educational and sustainable programs right across Lake Macquarie community," Mayor Adam said.
Applications for this round of funding close 5pm Monday 31 March 2025.
To learn more about the Community Environment Grants program, information sessions and how to apply, go to lakemac.com.au.
