Patriotic Funds
The VVC, in partnership with Consumer Affairs Victoria, the regulator of patriotic funds, provides advice to ex-service organisations on how patriotic funds can be raised and appropriately used, including transfer and winding up arrangements.
The VVC is now the trustee for six patriotic funds which are administered in accordance with Part 4 of the Veterans Act 2005.
The Australian Legion of Ex-Servicemen And Women Scholarship Fund – Albert Coates Memorial Trust
The Australian Legion of Ex-Servicemen and Women Scholarship Fund, in association with the Albert Coates Memorial Trust provides funding for scholarships awarded to students who are studying courses for the training of paramedics, nurses and doctors in emergency care at Victorian universities.
In 2018-19, the VVC approved the disbursement of $29,000 to the Albert Coates Memorial Trust to allocate scholarships for Rural Emergency Nursing studies. In 2018-19 recipients included Jessica Nordewier, Justin Galvin, Christene Lewis, Dr. Sam Digby, Anne Jian, Kerryn Osborne, Deborah Bennett, Elizabeth Lawrence and Abbey Small.
The Australian Legion of Ex-Servicemen and Women Scholarship Fund No 1 – Nurses Memorial Centre
The Fund, first established in August 2006, provides support for scholarship grants awarded on an annual basis to students that are undertaking postgraduate studies in care of the older person or Palliative Care at a recognised university. The Funds, administered by the VVC, are provided to the Nurses Memorial Centre (NMC) as the facilitator of the scholarships. In 2018-19, the VVC approved the disbursement of $30,000 to the NMC for these scholarships.
On 7 March 2019 Lieutenant Colonel Grimes represented the VVC at the NMC Scholarship Award. The Australian Legion of Ex-Servicemen and Women Scholarships were awarded to Erin Mrnjavac, Sarah Cresp, Cassandra Moore, Vicki Ashby and Nathan Havlin.
The War Widows and Widowed Mothers Association Scholarship Fund
The Fund supports scholarships awarded by the Federation University Australia to students undertaking graduate or postgraduate study in the fields of nursing, palliative care, aged care or midwifery.
The Victorian Blinded Soldiers’ Welfare Patriotic Fund
Established in April 2013 from funds provided by the Blinded Soldiers’ Association and a letter bequest from the Estate of the Late Lucy Adamson, this fund provides welfare assistance to visually impaired veterans and their dependents and offers assistance for former Australian
Defence Force members who have visual impairment due to their service in defence of our nation.
The Extremely Disabled Association (EDA) Patriotic Fund
In 2018-19 the VVC allocated $500 to the Victorian Veteran Community Story Writing and Art Competition (SWAC), facilitated by Austin Health’s Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital. To acknowledge the EDA’s longstanding support of the competition the VVC agreed to transfer $10,000 from the Fund to Austin Health for the purchase of SWAC artwork for permanent display at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital.
Australian United Ex-Services Association Patriotic Fund
This fund was initiated in 2014 for the purpose of providing funding for post-graduate study in the field of veterans’ health. The Trust Deed between the Australian United Ex-Services Association and the Veterans Council was formalised in December 2015. A Memorandum of Understanding with Austin Health was signed in February 2016 to deliver the scholarships for training post-graduate students in Cognitive Processing Therapy with an associated year of supervision.
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