Movement for Good award for Edinburgh Remakery

The Edinburgh Remakery has been granted £10,000 as part of the Benefact Group’s Movement for Good Awards. 

The latest phase of the Movement for Good Awards will see more than £500,000 in funding be awarded to 31 charities working across the climate change and environment, education and skills, heritage and arts and rural and community sectors.

The Scottish based charity is an award-winning environmental social enterprise committed to creating a culture of sustainable, waste-free living and protecting the planet for future generations.

The £10,000 funding will go towards the charity’s Tech Exchange for Community Hubs project, which will gift up to 200 refurbished electronic devices to 10 Community Hubs, giving their beneficiaries essential access to digital support and services and replacing old devices with newer, higher quality, refurbished ones.

The awards are designed to help charities make a real difference in their communities and beyond. More than 500 charities applied for the funding with the winning projects being selected against four criteria: impact and effectiveness, sustainability, innovation, and care and compassion.

Mark Hews, Group Chief Executive of Benefact Group, said: “At Benefact Group we believe business should be a force for good. More than ever, charitable causes need sustained support and a sense of financial stability.

“Through our Movement for Good larger-grant awards, we are championing a more imaginative way of supporting charities so that they can have some certainty in these challenging times. We know our funding can be a lifeline to those who are struggling with cost-of-living increases and a grant of this scale can make a huge difference to the incredible work that charities do.  

“Benefact Group is the fourth largest corporate donor in the UK and has an ambition to be the biggest. Owned by a charity, all our available profits go to good causes, and the more the Group grows, the more the Group can give. As a company whose purpose is to contribute to the greater good of society, charitable giving is at the heart of what we do.”

Elaine Brown, CEO of The Edinburgh Remakery Ltd, said: “The Edinburgh Remakery social enterprise is committed to supporting people in our communities whilst creating positive change for our planet.

“We reduce waste by taking in old electronics to be refurbished and reused, we reduce carbon emissions by providing affordable and eco-friendly alternatives to buying new, and we support our communities by providing people in need with gifted tech devices and valuable life skills to improve employability, confidence and wellbeing.

“Thanks to the Movement for Good funding, we are able to further our mission and help even more people whilst reducing waste and helping our planet at the same time.”

Movement for Good is funded by EIO plc, part of the Benefact Group.

Join us on Saturday 29th October at the Edinburgh Remakery where a collection of 10 designers share their antidote to fast fashion with one collective vision in an exciting live fashion show.

We’ll also be raising money for the Edinburgh Remakery to reintroduce their free drop-in Sewing Repair Sessions – open for anyone to join who wants help to mend, alter or reimagine their clothing or textile items.

We want to make repair skills and services accessible to everyone in Edinburgh, which is why we want to keep these sessions free; to help people learn new valuable skills, gain confidence, and meet other like-minded individuals in our community. 

Find out how you can help and support our free sewing sessions here.

£15 million boost for Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund

A fund launched last year to tackle the social isolation, loneliness and mental health inequalities made worse by the pandemic, has been awarded a further £15 million.

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults was launched in October last year, and has helped nearly 2,000 community projects to deliver activities and programmes in its first year.

It has supported a wide range of projects including sport, outdoor initiatives, arts and crafts and nature, and covering groups such as older people, those with a long term health conditions or disabilities, people living in rural areas and the LGBT community.

The new investment will allow the fund to continue for another year.

Speaking ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week, Mental Wellbeing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “The theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week is loneliness, and we know the pandemic has brought this issue into much greater focus. The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund has supported many projects that help to make people feel less isolated.

“The fund was set up to build and develop capacity within community organisations and grass roots groups so they can support people’s mental health and wellbeing. I am pleased that so many projects benefitted in the first year.

“This investment reflects the importance we place on promoting good mental health and early intervention for those facing mental health challenges –  ensuring that people can access a range of different types of support to match their needs. It will help us to continue to support a range of valuable community mental health and wellbeing projects across Scotland.”

Cowal Elderly Befrienders in Dunoon, Argyll and Bute, is one organisation which has received funding. The organisation works with men aged 65 and over to reduce social isolation in a group known to be hard to reach.

It provides befriending services designed to improve the quality of life, reduce isolation and loneliness which in turn aids the prevention of suicide. The service also helps keep older people independent and active in their communities.

Robin Miller, Project Coordinator said: “The numbers of older people we support has steadily increased and we now support over 200 each week. Many of the men we support are keen to remain as independent as possible and do not initially reach out for help – it can take weeks or months of sympathetic support to build up confidence, trust and an acceptance of outside help.

“Our work also allows older people to make a positive contribution to the work – in the small groups we work with. Our older men often support each other, thereby increasing their sense of self-worth and allowing them to actively further our aims.

“The funding we have recently received will allowed us to sustain and develop our work. Over the coming year, our Men on Board project will help us to focus more closely on older men, provide much needed support for them and provide insights into what isolated older men need, want and why this group is often viewed as ‘hard to reach’.”

Lottery cash for Granton Castle Walled Garden

Lottery boost for Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden

The Friends’ group’s Gillean Paterson explained: “We received £10,000 from the National Lottery to match fund the grant from The Robertson Trust.

“The money is specifically to employ a Community Project Development Officer for one year to put in place plans for the garden.

“These include more community veg growing, a green gym, planting a miniforest to increase biodiversity, longer opening times – and that’s just to begin with!”

A busy year ahead for the Walled Garden team!

Funding boost for GP practices

Loan scheme to ease burden of owning a surgery Continue reading Funding boost for GP practices