Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
House money is making a big difference
Kind-hearted group helping charities
A GROUP of residents have been quietly giving away thousands to worthy causes.
The Ballysillan Community Initiative in North Belfast has supported charities such as Aware NI and Friends of the Cancer Centre, donating more than £200,000 in just a few years.
It was set up by former UUP councillor Fred Rodgers and other community members initially as a company to build houses on Ballysillan Park.
But after erecting 16 homes in the area, the group went on to become a charity, helping local groups in need of a financial boost.
Speaking to the Mirror, Fred told how he and wife Diane, along with other members of the community, decided to start giving back.
The 64-year-old said: “I went to the Housing Executive on several occasions trying to get houses built here, I had been successful in getting new housing built down in Alliance.
“I kept going back and one day I was in with the Housing Executive chairman and I said to him if they weren’t going to build the houses, keep the land for us and we would build them ourselves.” The group formed as a limited company in 1997 and borrowed £1million from First Trust Bank. They built 16 houses on Ballysillan Park, which would be sold at £65,000. It was in the early 2000s they decided to go for charitable status but it was after Fred was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2013 that they decided to start using the money to help the local community. Cancer Lifeline was their first donation in around 2014/15, a sum of £25,000 after Fred saw first-hand the great work they were doing with cancer patients.
He said: “We have since one on to five £25,000 to the SOS bus, £15,000 to Aware NI, £25,000 to PIPS and £15,000 to Friends of the Cancer Centre.”