The Grace Trust is among nine charities which have recently been awarded a share of £197,015 to fund various projects, and manager Gerry Padden says it couldn’t have come at a better time.
‘Our funds were getting pretty desperate,’ he said. ‘We have not had to apply for funding for about 2½ years and our resources were beginning to get a bit lower than our treasurer would prefer.’
The money is being put towards the salaries paid to Mr Padden, his fellow manager Vini Jones and Brett Cutts so that they can continue their work.
That involves handing out about 25 food parcels each week, a monthly Island-wide delivery of essential groceries to 65 families and organising a free cooked lunch every Saturday.
The association is the representative body of 316 charitable organisations from a wide section of Island life. These range from large set-ups providing essential services to smaller ones representing the needs and concerns of particular groups.
The money it pays out comes from Jersey’s share of the Channel Islands Lottery profits.
Other grants approved for members included £30,000 for Les Amis to be put towards a new dementia care home, £29,783.51 for an assistant youth worker at the Jersey Arts Centre and two payments to Jersey Heritage. The heritage organisation has been awarded £9,929 for a new book copier and £4,142 to produce a culture map app.
