MULTI-YEAR funding totalling more than £610,000 to support six local charities has been announced by Stratford Town Trust.
The funding will be allocated to each organisation over a period of three years
The Shakespeare Hospice has been awarded £150,000 to support its Hospice at Home Service, providing 24-hour advice, care and support for patients with life-limiting illness and their families during the end of life period – within their own homes.
The Town Trust has supported The Shakespeare Hospice and the Hospice at Home service since it opened in 1998. Currently, it costs £2.3m for The Shakespeare Hospice to provide its full range of specialised services, including Hospice at Home, each year.
Angie Arnold, Chief Executive at The Shakespeare Hospice said: “The generous financial support over the next three years from Stratford Town Trust will enable us to continue to provide our excellent Hospice at Home service and we can continue to support patients and their families within Stratford.
“We are really grateful to Stratford Town Trust as without this service patients within our community would have less choice in their preferred place of care and may be admitted to residential homes or hospital, potentially some distance away from their home, family and loved ones.”
Citizens Advice South Warwickshire has been awarded a total of £182,750. It’s the first time the Trust has given funding for a period of three years to secure the future for the core service.
Beth Nicholson, Marketing and Development Manager for Citizens Advice, said: “As a local charity, this grant means our frontline services are secure for the people of Stratford. We can continue to give our clients a lifeline when they are in difficulties and need help.
“Knowing that this funding is for three years makes a big difference in the current difficult climate. Just in the Stratford town area we supported more than 1,000 people last year and we are grateful for this grant, which will keep open our main office and our outreach services for the district.”
ILEAP – a local charity aiming to making the local community a safer place to be for some of its most vulnerable members – has been granted £54,112.50.
The charity has been running for 18 years and has over 150 members with additional needs. It is intent on breaking down barriers, helping to raise disability awareness and making community facilities and amenities safer for some of the most vulnerable in society.
Thanks to the multi-year funding, a Project Co-ordinator will be recruited, for three years, to work with local schools and colleges to increase opportunities for young people wishing to volunteer, and for new members to join and take part in the charity’s user-led activities.
The Charity plans to combine the work of the Project Co-ordinator with the launch of a new website. It is hoped that the combination of the two new initiatives will help to make the charity sustainable and ensure its continuation in these difficult financial times.
ILEAP CEO Pete Bazeley explained: “This is absolutely fantastic news, thanks to the grant from Stratford-upon-Avon Town Trust, ILEAP’s future is looking more secure.
“Our application was all about making our service sustainable in the longer term, and this initial investment from the Stratford Town Trust will act as a catalyst for ILEAP to continue to deliver existing services whilst building new projects for some of the most vulnerable people in Stratford-upon-Avon and beyond, in a sustainable way.
“The funding from Stratford-upon-Avon Town Trust will enable the Charity to run as a business and become self- sufficient, taking away the year on year stress of running at a shortfall and relying on grants. In future years we hope to be able to launch new projects and services in the knowledge that we have a sustainable model and are able to offer a long-term commitment to our members and their families.”
VASA has been granted £105,000 to supports its Community Transport Service.
Charity Manager Kirsty Holder said: “By having three years of funding the charity is able to plan for the future, taking into account the growing demand for our Community Transport Service.
“This funding will enable us to extend our opening hours for passengers, use technology for family and friends to book journeys as well as providing additional resources and training for our wonderful volunteers. We are grateful to the Trust for their support of this much needed service.”
The Myton Hospices – which last year supported 1,400 people with life-limiting illness, and their families – has been awarded £60,000
Margaret McIntosh, Warwick Inpatient Unit Sister, said: “We want to say a huge thank you to Stratford Town Trust for their incredibly generous support. This year alone we have to raise £9.6million to continue providing our services free of charge – this grant will be a great help in ensuring Stratford residents can continue to use Myton’s services. As the only hospice in Coventry and Warwickshire with an Inpatient Unit it is vital we can be there for as many local people as possible when they need us most.”
Young People First has also been granted £60,000 – for Sharp Minds: Stratford, a project which supports young people with complex mental health issues by providing a combination of group activities, one-to-one mentoring and counselling.
More and more young people are being referred to the service, as Youth Worker Alex Walker explains:
“We have seen an increase across all our work in the numbers of young people with complex emotional problems, including high levels of anxiety, low self-esteem, self-harm and social isolation.
“Our professional youth workers build trusting relationships and create a non-judgemental atmosphere so young people feel safe and comfortable being themselves, sharing their interests and revealing their concerns. Young people develop new friendship groups; grow in confidence, develop coping strategies and resilience. As a result they have improved emotional well-being, re-engage in school and are able to focus on their futures.
“We’re very thankful to the Town Trust for allowing us to continue what has been such successful work in Stratford, supporting young people with low emotional well-being to overcome their afflictions.”
In Year 1, the total allocated by Stratford Town Trust will be £198,987. Over the three years, the total is £611,862.50.
Rachel Jones, Head of Community Engagement for Stratford Town Trust, said: “We are committed to supporting organisations through our multi-year funding programme, with funding for up to three consecutive years for projects which impact on two or more of our funding priorities and seek to respond to the longer-term needs of communities. These grants will do just that – supporting some of our most key local charities and the significant impact their work has on local people. We are proud and committed to supporting each and every one of them.”
Stratford Town Trust is a grant-giving charity dedicated to supporting local people and community projects. Since 2001 the Trust has distributed around £2 million each year in a diverse programme of grant-making, from large grants to small levels of funding.