Good Morning Ballymena gets a Lottery Windfall!

The small grants programme is awarding 6,740 to ‘Good Morning Ballymena’ as part of a grants roll-out of 287,974 to 35 groups across Northern Ireland, it was announced yesterday (Monday). Awards for All offers community, voluntary and statutory groups the chance to apply for small grants of between 500 and 10,000 that will have a big impact on local communities and the lives of people most in need. Good Morning Ballymena, which runs a call-line providing support for old, vulnerable and isolated members of the local community from its base in All Saints Parish Centre, will use the grant of 6,740 to run a series of outings for its clients and to buy some much needed office equipment. Anna Boyd was one of the founder members back in 2003 when Good Morning Ballymena was started by the then Over-50s Forum in the town. She recalled the time when news that an elderly woman had passed away and lain undiscovered in her home for two weeks horrified Ballymena people. “When that happened a couple of years back the Good Morning Ballymena service was already running. If that lady had been on our lists we couldn’t have prevented her death but she certainly wouldn’t have had to lie like that,” said Anna. Good Morning Ballymena now has 50 older people on its books referred to them from a range of sources - relatives, doctors, social services. “We’re based in All Saints Parish Centre in the town and our team of four volunteers rings round our clients twice a week,” explained Anna. “At holiday times I do the calls from home for I wouldn’t have our clients missing out on that contact.” She continued: “Because we’re older people ourselves we understand the needs and challenges of the people we’re ringing – one of our volunteers is 82 herself! “It makes all the difference to someone who is perhaps lonely or isolated to get those calls a couple of times a week. “One man told me how it had just changed his life to know that someone would be ringing him for a wee chat on those mornings. It’s only five minutes but it makes all the difference and can be a lifeline,” said Anna. “Old age can be an awful thing, as is loneliness. Old age we can’t do anything about but at least we can help with the loneliness. I can’t tell you the difference this funding makes. We were dancing in the office when we heard we’d got it!” Frank Hewitt, Big Lottery Fund NI Chair, said: “The Big Lottery Fund’s NI Awards for All programme funds health, education, environment and community projects that help people bring about positive change in their lives, improve health and well-being, develop skills and create safer communities.” “The application process is simple and accessible and shall remain so, making it easy for applicants to successfully apply for small pots of funding that can have such a big impact on local communities and lives.” Application forms and guidance notes are available to download at www.awardsforall.org.uk. For more details call us on 028 9055 1455, or e-mail us at enquiriesni@biglotteryfund.org.uk