Supporters gather in Gosport to celebrate £495,000 National Lottery grant for youth charity Motiv8
A gathering of beneficiaries, supporters and volunteers headed to the charity’s Toronto Place hub in Gosport today for a surprise announcement about the £495,944 grant from the National Lottery Community Fund, set to be given over the next five years.
As more and more young people are in need of the services offered by Motiv8, the charity’s chief executive Clare Ansell said the funding boost ‘would help young people and families to thrive within Gosport’.
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Hide AdThe official cheque presentation saw many guests turn out in support of the youth charity including Kathleen Jones, mayor of Gosport, and Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage, who said she was ‘so pleased to see it all come to fruition’.
The charity usually finds funding for one year at a time, so staff and volunteers were delighted to find out they will have some security for five years.
Clare said: ‘It was a really emotional time for us because we were all feeling really frustrated because we were getting young people and families through the door who didn’t necessarily fit our project remits.
‘This provision means we can provide some structure and do what’s needed. We can just do that little bit extra. It will mean we can utilise this building and really provide a fuller offer.
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Hide Ad‘Often our funding is on a yearly cycle, this [donation] allows us to plan for the provision which makes a big difference to a charity like ours.’
New and expanded services will include daily after-school drop-in times, an emotional wellbeing group, peer support sessions, employment drop-in service, parents support forum and a skills-based youth club for creative writing and performance.
Kirsty Robertson, service manager for Motiv8 in Gosport, said: ‘This is important because we are facing an unprecedented increase in demand for Motiv8’s services and we want to make sure all young people and families have access to local dedicated support whatever challenges they might be facing.
‘This funding will have a huge impact by building resilience for the lives of local people.’
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