Sport Northern Ireland Project Re-Boot: Activate has provided £5,000 of match funding
"One Step at a Time" Sports Wellbeing Programme
Augher, Mid Ulster, United Kingdom
Aim
Reducing isolation & vulnerability of older people across Clogher Valley through extensive programmes of new sporting & exercise activities
Who are we?
Set up during the height of the Covid19 pandemic, our organisation was set up to support people across the Clogher Valley areas of Clogher and Fivemiletown who were in need because of the pandemic.
A recent programme we delivered has been our Out of school Emotional Wellbeing Mental Health Project for Children and Young People. Funded through Telecommunity Fund. The programme was a 10 week out of school Emotional Wellbeing Mental Health Project for 20 Children and Young People aged 8 to 15 (boys and girls) living across the Clogher Valley area.
When we first came together to set up our voluntary organisation, we focused a lot of our work initially in reaching out to those who we knew were living alone and isolated by paying them a visit and supporting them in whatever way we could. We asked them how we could help and we done our best to assist as much as possible.
We began to link with wider community groups locally to provide exercise and wellbeing initiatives to those most in need. Predominately, the support provided over the last few years has been for local families, single parents & children, older people, persons living alone and persons with mobility issues / disabilities.
Our overall objectives as a community voluntary organisation as per our Constitution is to promote the benefit of the inhabitants of Mid Ulster (particularly across the Clogher Valley region) and its environs without the distinction of age, sex, race, political, religious or other opinion by promotion of wellness, through assistance with participation in health, wellbeing and sporting programmes, with the object of improving the conditions of life for local people. We aim to promote the advancement of education and to stimulate and create interest in wellness for the benefit of the local community across Mid Ulster and Clogher Valley, particularly but not exclusively by: (a) delivering health and wellbeing educational programmes: (b) delivering physical activity programme
Why are we crowdfunding?
We are crowdfunding because we were unable to fundraise, lost volunteers and we could not run the programmes we wanted during Covid.
Therefore, we want to utilse Crowdfunding and additional Sport NI fundraising to deliver our new "One Step at a Time Sports and Health Wellbeing Programme".
The programme will be focused on supporting older people living alone or isolated across Clogher Valley and Fivemiletown. The programme of activities will include walking, chair based Aerobics & activities, dancing, body twist, stretching and exercise to Music for older people in our community.
The programme will run for 12 weeks from March and support older people who suffered most during the pandemic.
Through our previous programmes, we have been able to ask older people directly what they need in our rural community, and how future programmes can help them to combat the isolation and loneliness. This was an opportunity for older people to be involved in the design, delivery and ongoing management of our community-based initiative in which we are now seeking to Crowdfund for.
We have also been able to build really positive relationships with older people locally because of the successes of our previous older persons programmes. Older People trust us to deliver programmes that are suitable for them because we have asked them what they need, and shaped all future programmes around the needs of older people directly. Therefore, older people have planned the following activities in which this Crowdfunding will fund, and therefore it will be run for older people specifically (We therefore are ensuring older people have been involved in the design, delivery and ongoing management of our community-based initiative in which we are now fundraising for through Crowdfunding.
- The programme will run for 12 weeks from early March 2023 (or as soon as funding is raised), directly supporting at least 30 older people aged 66+ men and woman (all of whom have been involved in shaping the activities noted as follows).
- The following activities are sport, health & wellbeing programme entirely focused on reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities such as-
Healthy Eating & Nutritious Meals for older people- I.e supporting older people to live an independent and well-nourished way of life going forward, and as part of the community while also accessing a nutritious meal after each session.
Older people will learn about how to prep meals on a budget through tips and advise.
- Walking exercise and social activities for older people- I.e reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities and social contact with others.
- Chair based Aerobics exercise for older people- I.e reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities and social contact with others.
- Dancing activities for older people- I.e reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities and social contact with others.
- Body Twist for older people- I.e reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities and social contact with others;
- Stretching and flexibility for older people- I.e reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities and social contact with others;
- Leg Lifts for older people- I.e reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities and social contact with others;
- Exercise to Music for older people- I.e reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities and social contact with others.
Our programme offers opportunities for older people to take part in healthy sporting social programmes over a prolonged 12 week programme, that helps them stay fit, healthy, connected and active in ways that suits their needs and abilities (as noted, older people in our community have directly informed this programme and therefore is new, innovative because it is lead by older people.
How you can play your part
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!
4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!
Our Covid Challenges
During the pandemic, we could not fundraise.
During the pandemic, we lost volunteers.
During the pandemic, we could not deliver the programmes we wanted to.
During the pandemic, our beneficiaries suffered because of isolation and mental health challenges.
During the pandemic, there was a rise in costs meaning we struggled financially.
How we’ll spend the money raised
It’s important to be transparent about how we plan to spend the money we raise. Therefore, all Crowdfunding will be used as follows:
Specialist to deliver the Healthy Eating & Nutritious Meals for older people- I.e supporting older people to live an independent and well-nourished way of life going forward, and as part of the community while also accessing a nutritious meal after each session.
Coach to deliver a Walking exercise and social activities for older people
Coach to deliver a Chair based Aerobics exercise programme for older people
Coach to deliver dancing activities for older people
Coach to deliver a Body Twist for older people programme.
Coach to deliver Stretching and flexibility for older people
Coach to deliver Exercise to Music for older people.
Facility hire to deliver the above 12 week programme, 3 times per week, 2 hours per session.
Marketing budget for the above programmes.
Community impact
The impact and benefits our project will have is as follows-
- Reduced social isolation. We will deliver direct community activity to 30+ older people aged 66 years and older, over 12 weeks
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older, will have access to regular activity sessions
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older, will have improved social networks because of our programme.
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older will have improved nutrition, for example they will have improved access to healthy food, improved access to tips and advice to prep healthy meals and overall therefore improved physical health and wellbeing.
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older will have improved diet through the advice and guidance given throughout the 12 weeks, and thus be more healthy and balanced diet.
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older will have increased skills and knowledge around exercise, wellbeing and social activities they can access locally.
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older will have improved social networks, and those who feel an increased sense of belonging in their community because of our 12 week programmes.
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older will feel less lonely because of our 12 week programmes.
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older will have access to Healthy Eating & Nutritious Meals for older people- I.e supporting older people to live an independent and well-nourished way of life going forward, and as part of the community while also accessing a nutritious meal.
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older will have access to walking exercise and social activities for older people- I.e reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities and social contact with others.
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older will have access to chair based Aerobics for older people- I.e reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities and social contact with others.
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older will have access to dancing activities for older people- I.e reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities and social contact with others.
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older will have access to Body Twist for older people- I.e reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities and social contact with others;
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older will have access to stretching and flexibility for older people- I.e reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities and social contact with others;
- 30+ older people aged 66 years and older will have access to leg lift exercises for older people- I.e reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people through supporting participation in activities and social contact with others;
This project successfully funded on 31st March 2023