Every little helps when it comes to funding, says RAMH
Health projects are being encouraged to follow in the footsteps of RAMH and apply for funding through supermarket giant Tesco.
Mental health charity RAMH, which has its headquarters in Paisley’s Blackstoun Road, used cash from the Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme to boost its gardening club.
The Wellbeing Gardening Group provides ecotherapy for people experiencing mental ill health.
Plants and wildlife can be very therapeutic and help enhance mental health recovery.
Bags of Help awards grants – raised from the 5p carrier bag charge – to local community projects across Scotland.
The funding scheme, which is delivered with Groundwork and works with greenspace scotland to support projects in Scotland, sees charities and community groups awarded grants of up to £4,000.
The scheme was previously only open to outdoor projects, but the supermarket has recently opened up the criteria to accommodate all projects that bring benefit to the local community.
RAMH – Recovery Across Mental Health – received £ 12,000 in a previous round of funding, thanks to public voting and the highest amount now available is £4,000.
Chief executive Stephen McLellan is encouraging other organisations to get involved, saying: “Ecotherapy is a crucial approach to recovery as it involves both creativity and physical activity.
“We’ve seen that people who take part in our gardening groups really feel the benefits of being outdoors and nurturing and growing living plants.
“We would like to say a huge thank you to Tesco and to everyone who voted.
“This money is life-changing and will have a very positive impact on all our service users. I would advise other groups to seriously consider applying for funding through this fantastic scheme.”
Lindsey Crompton, head of community at Tesco, said now is the time to bid for funding.
“At Tesco, we’re committed to helping our customers, colleagues and communities live healthier lives and it’s great that Bags of Help is playing a part in this by supporting many projects that improve health and wellbeing.
“The great thing about Bags of Help is that these projects are nominated and voted for by people in the local community.
“We’re hugely excited for the future as the scheme continues to grow and help even more groups across the UK.”
Tesco customers can vote for their favourite Bags of Help project in-store using a blue token given to them at the check-out each time they shop.
Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding.
● The Bags of Help scheme is permanently open for applications and anyone can nominate a project at any time. Just ask in store for more information, or visit the Bags of Help website at www.tesco.com/ bagsofhelp
RAMH has been delivering ment a l h e a l t h services across Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire for more than 25 years, and now supports more than 4000 people every year.
For more information about available services and how to access them, visit www.ramh.org or call 0141 847 8900.