1 August 2024
Victorian Lebanese Community Council Inc.
P.O. Box 59 Bentleigh VIC 3204

Letter of Congratulations

I am writing this letter to congratulate the Victorian Lebanese Community Council (VLCC) on its 17th anniversary.
Victoria is proud to have more than 50,000 people with Lebanese ancestry call this state their home. As a state member of the Northern Metropolitan Region, I am very proud to represent a vibrant and diverse community with a significant portion of the Lebanese diaspora living in my electorate. Our state has benefited greatly from the generosity and warmth of the community and I thank the Victorian Lebanese Community Council for its work supporting, connecting and advocating for the needs of the Lebanese diaspora for nearly two decades.
Since 2007, Victorian Lebanese Community Council has played an important role in amplifying the needs of the community and ensuring that decision makers are making decisions in the best interests of our migrant and culturally diverse communities. The VLCC has empowered the Australian Lebanese community to actively participate across the community, helped document the history of Lebanese migration to Australia and provided cross-cultural training to government authorities among many other beneficial activities that have strengthened our connection and cohesion.
This work would not have been possible without the work of many volunteers committed to both the governance and community building work of the VLCC. I thank you for your visionary leadership and tireless community building work over years. Our community is all the stronger for our culturally diverse communities feeling empowered and heard. Thank you for helping to make our multicultural community even stronger.
I am looking forward to celebrating this significant milestone with you.

Yours sincerely,

Samantha Ratnam
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Greens spokesperson for multiculturalism