Grand Charity donation to Fairbridge

Last year Fairbridge, an organisation based in Liverpool that works with young people

Pictured from left to right, are: Garry Birchall and Sarah Schenck.

aged 13 to 25 that other organisations find difficult to engage with and is one of The Prince’s Trusts eight programmes, have received another £30,000 from the Grand Charity as the second half of a two year grant.

Katie Styles, Trust Fund Raiser based in the central office in London thanked everyone again for their support and said: “The donation will be used to secure the posts of two valuable members of staff, Sarah Schenck and Garry Birchall for another year.”

Commenting her role, Sarah said: “The last 12 months have been challenging and exciting. My role as an Outreach Development Worker is so diverse, that every day is a learning day, not just for the young people, but for me as a youth worker. There is nothing more rewarding than working with young people, especially when you are able to see that your support makes a real difference. I am continuing professional development through training opportunities to provide a service of best practice for young people.”

Garry Birchall, Trainee Development Worker said: “I can’t believe that I have been here a year, so much has happened. Because of my new job I have been able to move out of the hostel and into my own flat. I was also given an award by Tomorrows People, it was these people who first sign posted me to Fairbridge, to recognise how far I have come. I am looking forward to the next year and plan to get qualifications so that I can start looking at becoming a development tutor scale two.”

The new centre on Renshaw Street.

Talking about the pervious year Katie said: “I’m very pleased to tell you that after flooding caused the team to move to a temporary home in the Liverpool One centre they are now in their permanent new home on Renshaw Street in Liverpool centre. The development, which I mentioned last year, went as planned and the team are very excited to finally be in a new, fit for purpose, centre. It is much larger than the old one with more delivery and one to one space, allowing us to support more young people and work with them more effectively. We are planning an open day in September.”

Young people, staff and volunteers who helped to decorate the new centre.

Another piece of great news is that The Prince’s Trust is to receive £250,000 as the 2012 National Grant from The Freemasons’ Grand Charity, demonstrating the Grand Charity’s commitment to helping unemployed young people find employment. Katie said: “The huge £250,000 grant will be a massive boost to our programmes around the country and we are very grateful and excited to have been chosen.”

Julian Barrell, Director of Fundraising at The Prince’s Trust said: “More that 1,000,000 young people are struggling to find work, which is a tragedy for the young people themselves and for the UK economy. At The Prince’s Trust, we meet young people every day who believe they have no future. We think they are wrong. Thanks to The Freemasons’ Grand Charity, we will be able to transform more young lives, helping young people break out of long-term unemployment and poverty.”

This is the third annual national grant awarded by The Freemasons’ Grand Charity, to be divided and distributed to projects throughout the country, providing funding at a local level.