Another good causes has recently received vital lottery funding to help it carry on its great work in the local community. Last week, Urban Outreach Bolton received a grant of nearly £500,000 generated by lottery players. The charity for the homeless received the money from another of Camelot’s lottery good causes, this one called “Help Through Crisis” fund, part of the Big Lottery Fund. It is money specifically set aside for people facing hardship: domestic abuse, homelessness, care of vulnerable people, children from low income families and much more. Urban Outreach Bolton helps the city’s homeless build a better future for themselves.
Stephen McKay [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Urban Outreach Bolton will use the money in conjunction with another local charity, this one dedicated to mental health, in tackling several issues that the homeless face. BAND (Building a New Direction) will provide befriending services for the city’s most vulnerable people. Users of the service will be referred from multiple services – the North West Ambulance Trust and other healthcare services including mental health and drugs, local police, social services and others relevant to the work of the organisation. Some of the city’s most vulnerable people will now get support once unavailable to them.
Urban Outreach Bolton has already won acclaim for some of its previous schemes. Most notable is the “Packed Lunch” scheme, a programme to ensure that children in low income families get at least one meal a day, provided by the charity, during the Christmas holidays and summer breaks from school. This is the sort of programmes that this portion of the Big Lottery Fund is designed to alleviate. As families continue to struggle during the past economic problems, many still use food banks and require other external help. It’s players of the National Lottery who are helping people in these situations.