Leonard Cheshire homes launch TV bid to win £50,000 funding

Three Leonard Cheshire Disability care homes in Wales are competing to win £50,000 in funding from The People’s Projects, helped by a short film on national TV. The care homes hope to win the money to help fund outdoors, gardening, and wildlife activities for disabled people and their local community. A partnership between the Big Lottery Fund, ITV, STV and The National Lottery, The People’s Projects asks people to vote on a shortlist of five local projects in their ITV region with the three projects that receive the most votes in each region receiving up to £50,000. Runners up are offered a discretionary award of up to £5,000. Overall, The People’s Projects competition offers £3 million of National Lottery funding, with 95 organisations shortlisted across the UK: five in each region. Public voting opens today (Monday 19th March) until 3rd April and can be done online or by post. Shortlisted projects will be featured on TV in their ITV region with a short film. The Leonard Cheshire Disability homes bid is being televised on ITV Wales between 6pm and 6.30pm on Wednesday 22th March. The charity is hoping to win funding for more outdoor activities at Leonard Cheshire services in Wales as part of the charity’s Centenary Garden Project, which is in tribute to the charity’s founder Leonard Cheshire, who was born 100 years ago, in September 1917. If voted one of the top three of five organisations, the care homes Llanhennock Lodge in Newport, Danybryn in Cardiff and Dolywern near Llangollen will win up to £50,000. Working with charity partners Keep Wales Tidy and The Wildlife Trusts, Leonard Cheshire Disability will create accessible outdoor spaces for residents and their local community to grow their own vegetables and learn how to encourage wildlife into the garden grounds. Sylvia Jones, Dolywern’s activities organiser and volunteer coordinator, said: “It will make such a difference to the residents at Dolywern if they can enjoy access to the gardens and grow their own vegetables and fruit, which they can then eat for their meals. It gives them more motivation to get out in the fresh air for physical exercise and mental stimulation.” The Leonard Cheshire Disability homes are up against four other organisations in their region: Elderfit, Oasis Cardiff, The Food Shed CIC, and Western Beacons Mountain Search & Rescue Team. How the projects were chosen Last September, the Big Lottery Fund invited projects that have received funding through its small grants programmes over the past year to say what they had achieved and how they would like to develop their project further. Big Lottery Fund, ITV and STV then shortlisted five projects in each region to go forward to the public vote. The National Lottery has a funding finder search function to help other projects seeking financial help pinpoint where to apply.   Main image: residents and carers outside Llanhennock Lodge. Copyright: Leonard Cheshire Disability

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