Vulnerable Young People Benefit from LandAid Emergency COVID-19 Funding
65 young people living across three Simon Community NI projects are set to benefit from emergency funding granted to NI’s leading homelessness charity by LandAid – the property industry charity.
The LandAid COVID-19 Emergency Fund, launched in April 2020, aims to support frontline charities during the crisis. In their first round of funding the charity distributed over £100,000 to 12 charities, with Simon Community receiving a grant of almost £10,000 in order to deliver mental wellbeing support and cookery resources to young people experiencing homelessness.
The charity’s first roll out of the grant will see staff from across the organisation provide recipes for under £4 and cookery demonstrations to motivate and inform young people on ways to eat healthily and on a budget during the crisis. This is in addition to each young person receiving a cookery pack containing ingredients and utensils to help them on their journey in the kitchen.
Speaking of the importance of such initiatives, Karen McAlister, Head of Young People’s Services at Simon Community commented:
At a time when society is being asked to socially isolate and remain at home, we have numerous young people who don’t have the luxury of a family or safe place to live. The LandAid funding will allow us to continue to support clients during a time when we’re unable to deliver workshops or activities in our usual manner.
McAlister further discussed the project:
Cookery is always a popular activity at our projects as it brings people together, creates a sense of family and teaches young people the skills needed to live independently when they move on from our services. It would have been easy to find videos on YouTube of cookery demonstrations but, by having our own staff volunteer to video some of their family favourites, we’re engaging with our young people on a deeper and more trusting level.