A passionate campaign to keep Bendigo’s Discovery Centre alive has seen the community well and truly beat their $30,000 fundraising target.
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The online fundraising project saw more than $38,000 donated – enough to keep the doors open for the next 12 months.
The science centre has now committed $6000 of the extra money to develop a shiny new Minibeast Zone.
The enclosure would be a new home for all kinds of creepy crawlies – live invertebrates, stick insects, preserved insect specimens, and some giant burrowing cockroaches that will hopefully be used in education programs, manager Kate Barnard said.
“We have a giant ant here at Discovery, so we thought it would be fun to get his some friends,” she said.
She said she was thrilled by the community effort, saying around 350 people had donated to the cause.
She particularly thanks Champion IGA and Bendigo Council for their generous giving.
“We're just so thrilled with the community support,” she said.
“When news broke about Discovery closing, the outcry from the community highlighted just how important it is to the Bendigo community.”
“We didn’t just reach our target, we smashed it.”
“Now we're secure for the next 12 months, it gives us a bit of breathing space.”
She said a new management board with business skills had been appointed.
“Now we've kept the doors open, their job is to ensure we can survive for next 20 years,” Ms Barnard said.
She said the centre caters to surrounding areas and sees 12,000 students – as well as 18,000 visitors – through the doors.
She said exciting science education from a young age was vital to inspire the region’s future engineers, mathematicians and scientists.
