Lottery windfall lands minibus for carers' group
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A PROJECT that helps young carers in Caithness has been given a cash boost from the National Lottery to help purchase its own minibus.
Caithness KLICS has received a grant of £48,178 from the National Lottery that will help the group plan outings for the youngsters it supports, designed to give them a well-earned break from their caring duties.
While the lottery is best known for making one lucky individual per week a millionaire, with each £2 ticket bought, 56p goes into a funding pot with the proceeds being shared out among many projects and charities across the country.
Since 1994, the National Lottery has raised over £38 billion for worthwhile projects, and in 2004 the creation of the Big Lottery Fund saw a further £6 billion head to more than 130,000 projects in the UK.
Caithness KLICS is one such project. It helps support young carers under the age of 18. These young people can find themselves caring or supporting a parent with a long-term or short-term illness or who may have drug, alcohol or mental health issues.
Caithness KLICS project manager Wendy Thain said: “This is massive for us as the minibus will help us plan day trips for the kids much more easily.
“We’re in the process of selecting the minibus but this will be a big help.
“We’ve been getting penalised for costs such as hiring private buses or fares for all the kids when using public transport.
“With public transport, we’re also at the mercy of the bus company’s timetables so that restricts us.
“With the minibus, we can just get in and go and not have to worry about bus fares or having to be at the stop to catch the last bus.”
Wendy said that the grant came via a public vote within the north of Scotland
which the people of Caithness helped them to top. The poll was commissioned for five groups to compete for part of an offered £150,000, with members of the public voting on the STV website – the result being a very good one for KLICS.
Wendy added: “We felt very humble at the support shown to us in the voting as we won the north section by 2000 votes. It shows how much people value what we do in Caithness and we are very grateful for the support shown to us.
“As part of the voting drive, STV invited us to record a video which was broadcast on STV 2’s Live at Five show. Afterwards, we had an unbelievable amount of people stopping us in the street to offer their support.
“As an added bonus, we were also finalists in the Scottish Charity Awards which were held in Edinburgh.
“We made the final five but didn’t win on this occasion. However, it’s more recognition for the work we do.”
While the minibus will take up the bulk of the grant, what’s left over will go towards a bumper celebration for the young carers to enjoy at the end of the year.
Wendy said: “We’re reaching five years since we started up and to celebrate that, as well as giving the kids a treat, we’re going to do a big masked ball for them in December. It will be like a mini red carpet night for them.”
The National Lottery fund has helped support many projects for Caithness.
If you have a project you think the area would benefit from, you can apply for funding from the lottery at www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/funding-finder
