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Limerick youth proojects receive funding as part of 100,000 Applegreen Blossom Fund

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3 years ago

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Applegreen Blossom Fund – TV star Greg O’Shea, Seamus Stapleton, Commercial Director, Applegreen, Lucy Masterson, CEO Irish Youth Foundation and Rosemary Begley, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager pictured with the Narrative 4 check. Picture: Julien Behal.

Limerick youth projects receive funding as part of €100,000 Applegreen Blossom Fund 

Three Limerick youth projects will receive funding as part of the €100,000 Applegreen Blossom Fund from the Irish Youth Foundation (IYF).

Limerick youth projects including Narrative 4, Southill Hub and the Smile School Completion Programme will all receive funding to support young people in disadvantaged communities.              


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One of three Limerick recipients, Narrative 4,  brings young people together and builds their confidence via the narrative of storytelling. Narrative 4 have secured €5,000 in funding which will be used to support the work they do in the local community. 

Southhill Hub is just one of the projects being awarded funding, receiving €5,000 to continue the incredible work they do in the local community with initiatives such as their afterschool club. The Smile School Completion Programme which have been awarded €10,000. The ethos of the Smile School Completion Programme is to give young people at risk of early school leaving a positive experience of learning, encouraging them to remain in education.                                                  

16 youth groups throughout the country will receive funding of €5,000 or €10,000 each. The funding will go towards encouraging children aged 6-18, who come from disadvantaged circumstances, to remain in education.  

The 16 projects that have been awarded funding, seek to address inequalities that discourage or prevent young people from completing education. Projects include supporting children with complex needs, providing work experience to students in areas of STEM, offering support and counselling, and facilitating escapes in the countryside. Each project is designed to equip young people with the tools and resilience needed to stay in education.

Lucy Masterson, CEO of the Irish Youth Foundation, commented: “The young people we support have been disproportionately affected by the last two years. We’re now starting to see the worrying effects of that in higher levels of disengagement in and early school leaving.

Through our close work with youth projects across the country we know that the transitions from primary to secondary, and from junior to senior cycle are crucial times in a young person’s life. Ensuring that they are supported during those transitions can be life changing – for instance, early school leavers are three times as likely to be unemployed.

That’s why the support provided by the Applegreen Blossom Fund is so important. It will ensure 16 incredible projects will be better able to meet this need and change the lives of young people across the country. We’re grateful to Applegreen for making this the focus of the fund this year.”

The 16 successful groups were selected from a total of 100 applications by the IYF, in consultation with the Applegreen charitable fund team. 

To date, the Applegreen Blossom Fund has raised over €450,000 for the Irish Youth Foundation. The funds have fostered positive change in more than 133 local community groups, with over 8,000 children benefiting from direct support to date.

 

For more stories on Narrative 4 go HERE

For more info on Narrative 4 go HERE

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Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.