Twenty community organisations receive funding from Community Cashback Grant Initiative
SPAR NI has awarded 20 local organisations a £1,000 grant each, as part of its Community Cashback Grant initiative.
Selected from over 900 applications that came from grassroots organisations, registered charities and community groups from across Northern Ireland, this year’s recipients are:
- Huntington’s Disease Association Northern Ireland
- Tiny Life NI Support Groups, Newtownabbey, Carrickfergus and Larne
- St. John’s Ambulance, Carrickfergus Unit
- Charis Cancer Care, Cookstown
- ASCERT, Lisburn
- Rosie’s Trust, Bangor and Newtownabbey
- North Down & Ards Women’s Aid
- Samaritans, Belfast
- The Welcome Organisation, Belfast
- Lagan Search and Rescue, Belfast
- The Brain Injury Foundation, Newry
- Down’s & Proud, Lurgan
- Baby Basics, Magherafelt
- Foyle Hospice, Derry/Londonderry
- Brainwaves NI, Cookstown
- Youth Sport, Omagh
- Omagh Men’s Shed
- The Aisling Centre Company Ltd, Enniskillen
- The Cedar Foundation, Enniskillen
- Positive Futures – Lakeland Family Support Service, Enniskillen
Bronagh Luke from SPAR NI said it was a difficult task to whittle the final list down, with so many organisations in need in Northern Ireland.
Bronagh commented; “We received 934 applications for our grant this year after announcing even more organisations and community groups in need could benefit. Usually, we spread the £20,000 out between five organisations, but with so many in need we decided this year to give £1,000 each to 20 recipients.
“So many applicants told us about their funding being cut and how great a need there was for their services in many communities in Northern Ireland. While a lot of our grant recipients are based in certain areas, they still provide invaluable support across the whole of the country, allowing them to help even more people, which is what this initiative is all about.”
Many of the recipients commented on the fact that this local grant can be processed quickly to allow for summer schemes to take place in the coming weeks, including Positive Futures Lakeland Family Support Service, which supports children with learning disabilities and their families in the Enniskillen area, who said, “We would use the grant to expand our summer scheme offering, currently limited by reduced funding, to add additional events.”
ASCERT, the Lisburn-based charity established in 1998 to address the harm caused by alcohol and substance abuse throughout communities, will use the grant to fund adult counselling sessions throughout their ‘Rethink Your Drink’ service.
While Baby Basics in Magherafelt, which is a volunteer-led project supporting new mothers and families struggling with the financial and practical pressures of looking after a newborn, will use the grant to continue to provide essential items to their service users, from mattresses to toiletries, clothing and nappies.
There are over 300 SPAR stores in Northern Ireland, each acting as community hubs and are dedicated to supporting local charities and community groups, from hospice centres to foodbanks, with store teams going beyond their roles in-store to engage and help their local communities thrive.
A recent survey from SPAR showed that Northern Ireland had the most community pride throughout the UK regions, with 83% of respondents either very or fairly proud of their local area, followed by London (75%) and Scotland (73%).
The survey also showed that those in Northern Ireland ‘feel like they are a part of their community’ the most, with over two thirds (61%) saying they strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement.
