Local grants award brings new skills in Scotland
Community-led organisation, Gorebridge Community Cares, received £20,000 from the Local Grants Programme in October 2018 to deliver the ‘food for thought’ project – a series of cooking classes, ‘talking and doing’ workshops and education and employment sessions for local veterans, Armed Forces personnel and Service families.
All of these fantastic sessions have been designed to help improve both physical and mental health, build team work and encourage discussion.
Now mid-way through their project, they’ve shared their success with us to show just how much this level of funding can achieve…
“This project has so far been a great success! We’ve just celebrated the end of our cooking workshops with Service spouses at Scots Corner, Penicuik, and we’re delighted that those involved were eager for more with 10 (so far) even going on to obtain a REHIS Elementary Food and Hygiene qualification! We put on an extra week due to the project’s popularity and even hosted an awards ceremony to present the participants with their certificates.
It’s been a great way to bring people together in a supportive environment to learn new skills and talk to one another – especially important if their serving partners are deployed.
Our next step for this group is to offer them even more skills, particularly around CV writing and help with clinching that all-important interview. We’re also looking into offering a creche course, run by Midlothian council, to allow them to become a qualified creche worker – another great route to work.
Over in Gorebridge, we’ve been working with a real mix of people, including veterans, who’ve so far shown a great deal of enthusiasm for the sessions we’ve provided. We’ve even persuaded one of our participants to share the skills she has in Chinese cuisine with the rest of the group!”
Could your organisation benefit from a Local Grants award?
Does your charitable organisation have a great idea for a local project? Why not take a look at our Local Grants Programme guidance for more info? Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.