Local charity, We Are Beams have won two significant grants in 2024 totalling £174,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK, for their short breaks for disabled children and their Family Advice Service. The grant will also run for 3 years.
The charity was established 27 years ago, and now today serves at least 450 children and families at any one time.
Katrina Adams, Head of Charity said “A very big thank you to all National Lottery players and to the National Lottery for supporting Beams. Holiday play schemes are vital for the mental health and wellbeing of disabled children who would otherwise be excluded from many mainstream activities. We can now put on a great range of fun outings to support our children in the Dartford, Gravesham and Sevenoaks area during the Easter and Summer holidays, which our families have told us is the worst time of the year for them as there is no school or routine and they are exhausted from the 24/7 cycle of care. This gives parents a break to spend time for themselves or other siblings. Our Family Advice Team also support the parents to help their child have the best life possible with a holistic range of advice, parenting programmes and courses. It’s vital that we are here to help families whatever the need so that they know they are not alone”
Caroline Brinkman, Income Generation and Development Lead at the charity said
“We are delighted that the National Lottery has recognised our work in this way. It is important because it helps both the children and parents to build relationships with others facing similar challenges and to create their own circle of friends and peers”
The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its new strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030.
As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.
National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of life-changing funding to communities. To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk