- Area:
- Northern Ireland
- Programme:
- Awards for All Northern Ireland
- Release date:
- 24 10 2012
A Belfast project using cookery to boost the confidence and employability of homeless people and people with learning difficulties has been awarded a grant from the Big Lottery Fund.
L’Arche, Belfast will teach the young people to forage for food, grow vegetables, cook meals and live independently through its Fun, Food and Friends project.
L’Arche is one of 83 groups across Northern Ireland awarded grants totalling more than £682,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme.
The organisation provides accommodation for people with learning difficulties, supporting their educational and personal development, and also offers training and work opportunities for young homeless people in its Root Soup catering enterprise. It has been awarded a grant of £8,020 for the Fun, Food and Friends project.
“When we started Root Soup we did not have an industrial kitchen. We were offered the kitchen at a homeless hostel and some of the young people staying there got involved,” said L’Arche manager Scott Shively. “Working together has broken down the stereotypes for both groups and working in the kitchen helps them all gain confidence and job skills.”
Alison Pettigrew, developer of Fun, Food and Friends, said: “Cooking can break down all barriers. Everyone can cook. Some of these young adults may have intellectual difficulties but they all have a great sense of achievement at the end.”
Foraging for berries and digging up potatoes and other vegetables will be a key part of the project. “We are trying to introduce independent living skills, and showing these young people they can cook themselves,” said Alison.
Millburn Community Association has also been awarded £10,000 to run a project to bring together young and older people living in Coleraine’s Millburn estate area. They will use the grant to buy computers so they can run a homework club for young people, who will in turn be encouraged to pass their IT knowledge on to local older people.
“We are trying to break down barriers,” explained Association Secretary Ian Ellis. “There is a massive problem with anti-social behaviour on the estate. A group of about 40 older kids come to our club on a Thursday, but otherwise they just hang about the streets. Older people are often afraid to come out of their homes because they feel threatened.”
“Over 50s are not too good on computers yet the kids are brilliant. We want to get some of the young people who come to the club to teach the older people computer skills. It will open up a whole new world for them, and will give them confidence in the kids again. And a lot of the kids are under-achievers and don’t get the help they need because they don’t have computers in their homes. A little bit of help will also give them more confidence at school.”
Frank Hewitt, Big Lottery Fund NI Chair, said: “The Big Lottery Fund’s NI Awards for All programme funds health, education, environment and community projects that help people bring about positive change in their lives, improve health and wellbeing, develop skills and create safer communities.
“The application process is simple and accessible; making it easy for applicants to successfully apply for small pots of funding that can have such a big impact on local communities and lives.”
Full list of awards announced today.
Application forms and guidance notes are available to download at www.awardsforall.org.uk
For more details call us on 028 9055 1455, or e-mail us at enquiriesni@biglotteryfund.org.uk
Further Information
Andrew Kennedy, Press Office Big Lottery Fund: 9055 1426
Mobile: 07788 640 791
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Notes to Editors
- The changes to Awards for All come after each distributor developed their funding programmes so they could offer specific small grants schemes that would better meet the needs of their sectors.
- The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 46% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
- The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £26 billion has now been raised and more than 330,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
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