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Ten Community organisations in Newry, Mourne and Down have been awarded grants from The National Lottery Community Fund with Davina's Ark receiving almost £500k for their Aftercare Addiction Centre in Newry.
A total of £4,978,381 of grants were allocated to 117 community projects, supporting people across Northern Ireland.
This includes awarding groups who are tackling local issues such as helping communities connect, improving mental health and supporting the environment.
Davina’s Ark is using a £494,112 grant to run recovery programmes for people in addiction and their families. Over four years the project will run group sessions and counselling to help break the cycle of addiction, rebuild relationships, and support families to understand and learn how to support addiction recovery to help prevent relapses.
Newry Masonic House Committee is using a £10,000 grant to make improvements to their hall to make it more efficient to run during community activities.
Mullaghglass Loyal Orange Lodge No 117, near Newry, is using a £9,500 grant to carry out a range of repairs to their building including replacing flooring and upgrading toilet facilities to include disabled access. This will allow activities to take place in an accessible and comfortable space.
1st Dromore Newry Scout Group is using a £9,640 grant to buy equipment and make improvements to their hall in Newry so they can continue to run activities to teach young people new skills, build friendships and confidence, and improve community pride.
1st Newcastle Scout Group is using a £9,300 grant towards the cost of a new roof and to buy camping equipment. This will allow the young people to take part in activities to improve their health and wellbeing.
Mourne Community First Responders is using a £10,000 grant to buy defibrillators and training equipment so volunteer first responders can attend training and provide lifesaving treatment for the surrounding rural population during medical emergencies before an ambulance arrives.
Ti Chulainn in Mullaghabawn is using a £10,000 grant to make improvements to the Ti Chulainn Cultural and Heritage Centre building so it can continue to stay open for the community.
St Colman’s GAC in Drumaness is using a £9,900 grant to create a community garden in their grounds to encourage the community to take part in gardening activities and build relationships across the community.
Hourglass (Safer Ageing) has been awarded a £9,899 grant to deliver pop-up clinics for older people at risk of, or vulnerable to, harm, exploitation, neglect and abuse. The sessions will run in Newry, Antrim, Bangor, Belfast, Lisburn, and Newtownabbey, to raise awareness, provide advice and connect older people to local services that can help them.
The Well in Kilkeel received a £10,000 grant to run counselling sessions to improve health and wellbeing and deliver suicide prevention and awareness training courses for volunteers so they can support those who are experiencing thoughts of suicide.
Thanks to National Lottery players more than £30 million a week is raised for good causes across the UK like these. The vast majority of grants awarded are for smaller amounts of under £10,000, going to the heart of communities to make a big difference.
Paul Sweeney, The National Lottery Community Fund’s NI Chair, said: “I’m proud to see the impact every day that our funded projects have across communities in Northern Ireland.
“These new grants are supporting a diverse range of projects, who are meeting the needs of people, helping them to rebuild and thrive.”
For more information on National Lottery funding visit their website WWW.TNLCOMMUNITYFUND.ORG.UK or social media.
