Published: 26 September 2024
Benefact Trust has awarded over £320,000 in grants to churches and charities across the UK and Ireland.
Take a look at some of the incredible projects we’re supporting through our Community Impact and Building Improvement grants programmes…
Hope Community Foundation, Sheffield
The Hope Community Foundation is situated at the Hope Centre, located in one of Sheffield’s most disadvantaged communities. Since 1999, the foundation has been actively driving social change, offering services to tackle food poverty, loneliness, isolation, health and family issues – supporting over 500 individuals and families each week.
The Pathways Project provides local people with vital, practical and integrated support, through volunteers that listen to their needs and signpost them to the necessary services.
To develop the programme and provide more in-depth support, the foundation is employing a new part-time Project Lead and providing more training for the volunteer team. An £8,200 Community Impact Grant will support this work, which should lead to many more families having access to the right support.
Release Prison Partnership CLG, Dublin
Release Prison Partnership is an innovative charity, supporting and training ex-offenders to help them understand the impact of their offending on their victims and the wider community.
The charity delivers an accredited Restorative Justice Course, which is the first of its kind in Irish Prisons. The course has been delivered across the UK and has shown great success in rehabilitating offenders.
A grant of £8,700 will help to employ a Project Coordinator, train volunteers and provide the resources needed to deliver the programme to over 200 offenders over the next year.
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Peterborough Cathedral
Peterborough Cathedral is building connections with young people by employing one intern, per year, over the next three years to develop its youth offering.
Activities run by the new Youth Mission Enabler have demonstrated a clear appetite for young people to get involved in the cathedral, and the new interns will build on these relationships through Junior Church, cathedral music, and work with King’s School.
A £6,500 grant will support the internships, which will not only help to grow the cathedral’s youth work but will give adults valuable experience in youth work and ministry.
Oasis Church, Birmingham
Oasis Church moved into an old Methodist Church building in Harborne, in late 2017. The building had fallen into disrepair and disuse, and Oasis Church was keen to make improvements to the most dilapidated parts of the building, bringing them back into community use. In just five years, the building has started its transformation from a derelict shell into a hub of community life.
A £5,700 Building Improvement Grant will help to make urgent repairs to the roof, to ensure the building is a safe place for worship.
St Aldhelm’s Roman Catholic Church, Malmesbury
St Aldhelm’s is a historic church used widely by worshippers and the local community. Community groups used to meet in a now-dilapidated building which is no longer fit for purpose.
With the support of an £18,000 Building Improvement Grant, the old building is being demolished and replaced with a new hall that will be fully accessible and will have a much greater capacity. It will include a kitchen and toilets and will enable the church to offer more support to the local community.
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