About $40,000 from the state government would go a long way to helping a Unanderra soccer club keep cars and motorbikes off their fields.
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Grant funding for that much money from the government would be rare but now Unanderra Hearts Soccer Club has a real chance of getting a helping hand.
The soccer club is one of dozens of community groups and individuals in the Illawarra who nominated suggestions for the My Community Project.
The initiative asks residents to vote on which projects will provide the most benefit to their area. The state government will fund the ones with the most votes.
A total of $24.4 million is available for eligible ideas across the state, with between $20,000 and $200,000 available for each project.
"As a junior club there is no way we would be able to pay $40,000 for new fences," he said. "The club's only profit comes from canteen sales, sponsors and registration and we are not about jacking up kids' registration to fund capital works.
"If there is any major project that we need to get funded we struggle to raise the money.
"The funding would be very helpful."
Mr Stratton said other groups such a schools, touch football teams and the church used the grounds so the funding would help many in the Unanderra community.
The club has had an ongoing battle with cars and motorbikes riding through its fields creating divots and uneven grass for the past four seasons.
"This season there have been three times cars have been on the field which has meant we have had to cancel games," Mr Stratton said.
"We have to close the field, hire a roller, pay for it to be transported to the grounds, then one or two club members spend hours driving the roller around flattening the divots and marks.
"It is a labor intensive job and can cost $300 to $500."
Other examples of projects people can vote for in Wollongong, Keira, Shellharbour, Kiama and Heathcote include new playground equipment, community gardens, paths or ramps to improve access or a community transport service.
Illawarra Labor MPs have expressed concerns with the voting process arguing that many disadvantaged communities in electorates do not have access to the internet and this will skew the final selection of successful projects.
"I encourage everyone to go online and vote for some of the great projects that have been proposed in our community," Keria MP Ryan Park said.
"I am concerned that some projects will be disadvantaged and receive fewer votes than they deserve because of limited access to the internet in some pockets of my community. I hope the Minister takes this into account in future rounds of the program."
Voters need to pick between three and five projects in their electorate, arrange them in order of your preference, then submit their vote. Each person can vote only once.
Voting closes August 15 via the Service NSW website with successful projects to be announced from September.