A LA TROBE University bid of $4000 has won a Bendigo Advertiser full-page advertisement offered in a silent auction to help the Bendigo For Homeless Youth fund-raising campaign.
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Bendigo Community Telco kicked off the auction with a bid of $1000.
La Trobe Bendigo vice-chancellor John Dewar said the bid recognised the enormous efforts of Luke Owens in helping the homeless this year.
“La Trobe University is proud of the leadership and social conscience displayed by La Trobe education student Luke Owens and his group in dealing with the challenge of homelessness in Bendigo,” he said.
“The university has supported this week’s Bendigo Advertiser silent auction and hopes that our contribution makes a small difference to dealing with homelessness.
“We are also proud to be supporting the important work of Haven as they work with governments in leading community responses to this issue.
Professor Dewar said La Trobe believed financial hardship should not be a barrier to accessing higher education and had launched a wide range of scholarships for next year.
“We will discuss with Haven how to increase access to these scholarships by the communities with which it works,” he said.
Professor Dewar said La Trobe was Victoria’s largest provider of quality higher education to regional Victorians.
“One in four regional Victorians in higher education study at La Trobe,” he said.
“The university is also ranked third in Victoria in research quality and top in Australia in a number of fields.
“The university’s top ATAR programs are in Bendigo, including dentistry, pharmacy and physiotherapy and a range of programs in humanities, science health, business and education.”
Bendigo Advertiser editor Rod Case thanked La Trobe for its generous support of the silent auction.
“This $4000 takes Bendigo For Homeless Youth within sight of Luke Owens’ $100,000 fund-raising target and that was the plan,” he said.
“We are thrilled with how it turned out and now look forward to producing a full-page advertisement in a Saturday edition that we know will get La Trobe plenty of value for money.
“We are also very appreciative of Bendigo Community Telco who didn’t hesitate to kick this auction off with a bid of $1000.
“La Trobe and Bendigo Community Telco have shown they are great community-minded organisations and both deserve credit.’’