NSW Government Safe Places for Faith Communities (SPFC) Grants Program

In 2025, Christ Church Lavender was successful in receiving a grant of $45,000 to enable us to provide improved lighting and fencing for the property.

The intended outcomes of the Grant Program were “to enable communities to come together safely to profess, practice and maintain their faith and religious heritage by:

• Protecting faith communities and the places where they gather from harm or damage through enhanced safety and security measures

• Improving risk mitigation planning, preparedness and incident management at places where faith communities gather

• Building community awareness, cohesion, resilience and wellbeing relating to the safety and security of places where faith communities gather”

The program allowed a range of items including lighting, fencing, and security equipment which were the areas Parish Council determined were most in need for our property and congregation. The terrace used for events and after evening services was only dimly lit as was the walkway along the southside and the walker Street driveway. Internal church lighting was also inadequate for live streaming and potentially unsafe for contractors such as the florist, and we had a second break-in during the grant period. We had expected to replace most of the fencing along Lavender and Walker Streets but after a more detailed inspection by the builder, we were able to reuse many of the panels and posts leading to a substantial saving from the original quote which then allowed us to undertake further improvements in the above areas including sensor lights and security cameras.

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While there are further improvements that will need to be addressed in the future, the grant has allowed CCLB to substantially improve the safety of our faith community and we are grateful to the NSW Government for awarding us this grant.

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