A FUNDING lifeline has been handed to a dale organisation so it can continue to provide vital support to young and old people in Teesdale.
Without the cash, Teesdale YMCA would have faced a struggle to survive during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As well as providing online youth support across the dale, the organisation is delivering hot meals to elderly people in the Cockfield and Evenwood areas. Staff are also working on new projects so they can hit the ground running when the pandemic is over.
Rachel Dyne, YMCA operations director, said: “The grants have meant that we have been able to keep delivering youth work. Without it, our focus would have been on surviving, not moving forward.”
Teesdale YMCA received £14,000 of neighbourhood budget funding from county councillors Richard Bell, Ted Henderson, Heather Smith, Stephen Hugill and George Richardson through Teesdale Action Partnership (TAP). It came at a crucial time.
Ms Dyne said: “When Covid hit, everything changed.”
The organisation underwent a staffing restructure and moved from its base in Galgate because it no longer needed the premises in a socially distanced world.
The YMCA focused on online support work and is now looking to recruit a second youth worker who will be more “street based” until the time is right to have a town centre office again.
TAP has also provisionally allocated £18,893 to the YMCA to further support youth work and senior lunch club activities in the Cockfield and Evenwood areas.
Ms Dyne said: “Throughout lockdown we have continued to provide hot meals for seniors at home. For some of these people, it’s the only hot meal they get all week and the visit can be the only person they have seen face to face all week.
“We talk about rural isolation but this project shows how isolated people can be in places like Cockfield too.”
The scheme runs at a deficit to keep costs reasonable for pensioners so the funding from TAP has kept it sustainable.
Ms Dyne added: “Post lockdown we will be expanding into girls’ health and wellbeing by forming a group looking at sexual health, mental health and body issues.
“We know this is something they look at in schools but schools have a full agenda at the moment. Also, some young girls are not comfortable talking to their teachers but will speak to youth workers.”
Ms Dyne said Teesdale YMCA has been working in partnership with groups such as TCR Hub and Teesdale Lunch Clubs so there is no duplication of schemes.
“By working together we can reach more people. For example, we have been sending out some of the TCR Hub’s care packages to the senior citizens who get the hot meals,” she added.
