Trust scoops £40k lotto cash
Blairgowrie and Rattray Development Trust (BRDT) has secured an additional award of nearly £40,000 from the National Lottery, made possible by National Lottery players.
The award is from the National Lottery’s new Cost of Living Crisis Fund – which aims to support vulnerable individuals, families, and those disproportionately affected by the current cost of living crisis.
The funding is for six months, starting on November 22, 2022, and will contribute towards covering the costs of running a number of the Trust’s ongoing initiatives.
These include the popular Saturday Lunch Club and meals, increasing the frequency of the twice-monthly Wednesday lunch clubs to every week, the community larders, the BaRI Food and Refill Store, and the recently-launched weekly cuppa and a cake sessions.
In September, BRDT was awarded £150,000 from the National Lottery’s Community-led Fund over three years to support and develop a range of its existing projects and initiatives which work towards reducing food waste, food costs and social isolation in Blairgowrie and Rattray.
Teresa Donaldson is chair of BRDT. Welcoming the news, she said: “We are relieved to have secured this support from the National Lottery’s new Cost of Living Crisis Fund.
“BRDT’s work is led by the community for the community and we work with local people, organisations and businesses to help create a thriving and attractive town, with a strong sense of community and identity.
“Through our day-to-day work in the community, we know that more people than ever before are facing severe challenges as a result of the cost of living crisis, and that this is only going to intensify over the winter months with more and more people facing difficult choices.
“Thanks to this funding, we aim to build on work we are already doing to reduce the impact of, or prevent financial insecurity, particularly in relation to food costs.
“We want to ensure that people in our community have more access to support and services that will help them to deal with the increased cost of living.
“This could be through offering tasty and nutritious pre-cooked meals, soup and a cake every Saturday to around 90 people in the local area, free food from the Fareshare initiative in the four community larders in Blairgowrie and Rattray, weekly Wednesday lunch clubs at four locations including independent living complexes in the town, and the weekly cuppa and a cake get-togethers in a warm and cosy space.
“During the coronavirus pandemic, our community really came together to support each other. Since March 2020, our team has been at the heart of community efforts in the town and continues to support both individuals and groups in a way that is sustainable, proactively meets local needs and is adaptable to change – including the current cost of living crisis.
“This latest funding award will enable us to continue to do this.”
To find out more about any of these initiatives, email barifood@ discoverblairgowrie.co.uk for more information.
We want to ensure that people in our community have more access to support and services that will help them to deal with the increased cost of living Teresa Donaldson