Church in £400k lotto funding bid
A CHURCH in Pontypridd is bidding for £400,000 of lottery funding so it can continue to help local vulnerable people in the area.
St Catherine’s Church on Gelliwastad Grove is hoping to get a grant from the Big Lottery Fund, run by the National Lottery, to help the church’s social enterprise, Connect, which already runs a successful cafe, toddler groups, a job club and a debt centre.
It is also a base for a foodbank and works with people with addictions and chaotic lifestyles.
The money would be used over the next five years to help an additional 5,000 people and train about 180 volunteers.
Reverend Peter Lewis said: “It seems to me that Pontypridd has many voluntary groups, local agencies and concerned individuals who are networking and connecting together in creative ways to address issues affecting life in the town and area.
“At Connect we’ve invested in bringing volunteers and groups together to tackle these issues in strategic ways and we are always thrilled to see lives changed and improved.
“Take Stan for example, who after being unemployed for 10 years, found work through our job club, or Gary who having just come out of prison was invited by us to volunteer in the cafe and since then has blossomed in confidence and hope, and then there’s Ken and Jane, a couple who felt crushed as a result of spiralling debt until we were able to deal directly with their creditors, help formulate a budget for them to become debt free.
“Third sector volunteers like us are increasingly being relied upon to offer support and with the additional funding we’re seeking we’ll be in an even better place to raise people out of poverty.”
Esther Sowerby, who is a church member and fundraises for the organisation, added: “For the last year we have been talking to people about what they would like to see in the town and have planned everything around what people have asked for.
“We have loads of plans for increasing our provision like putting on more holiday activities for families, extending the opening hours of the café to after school, helping twice as many debt clients, offering AQA training courses for our volunteers and providing a free breakfast once a week for the homeless.”