Some of the projects to benefit from this New Year’s boost include; a bus stop with a difference; the revival of a Victorian gem; and a gardening project for the soul.

 

Read on to find out more…

 

 

The Bus Stop is a mobile youth work project reaching out to young people in disadvantaged or isolated areas on the East Coast. One of the main focuses is the estate of Eastfield, on the edge of Scarborough, which is in the top 1% most deprived areas in the UK. Here, the team regularly supports between 20 to 30 children per week in its converted double decker bus.

 

The well-used and well-loved bus in now beyond repair, and so a grant of £2,500 from Benefact Trust will support the youth charity to purchase a new bus and continue to provide a safe and welcoming space for children to open up and chat about everyday life.

 

A Benefact Trust grant of £18,000 is supporting Manchester Vineyard Church to reopen an iconic community building, built in 1850 and closed in 2010. 422 Stockport Road (formerly known as Longsight Youth Centre) will become a ‘living room for the city’ – a place to serve people hit hard by COVID, providing a wellbeing space and a base for support and training.

 

Through the restoration of this grand Victorian building, the church hopes to reverse the detrimental effects of poverty in the local area and help a hurting community to flourish.

 

The vision of a local doctor, ‘Dig your way out’ is an opportunity for the church to support the mental health needs of a community in response to COVID-19. A grant of £750 from Benefact Trust will help Hollymoor Community Church to establish an outdoor project in the grounds of the chapel with the purchase of gardening equipment. This will enable participants who have been feeling lonely and isolated to join in and get gardening; grow food to give back to the community; and focus on their wellbeing with pastoral support from church volunteers.

 

St Peter & St Paul’s existing church hall is a wooden building due to be demolished in the summer of 2021. Some £4,500 funding from Benefact Trust will support a new extension at the front of the church as a welcome area for local people, with an accessible toilet, a meeting place for groups and activities and a coffee shop to come together and connect. The new extension’s proximity to the main church will enable visitors to explore their spirituality and enjoy a quiet place for personal prayer and meditation for both individual and community wellbeing.