BELFAST Charitable Society is celebrating another milestone in its bid to address social disadvantage and wants to thank the Barbour family for its generosity that enabled this to happen. Together through the Barbour Fund, £100k has been committed to worthy causes in Lisburn and North Belfast over the last five years ago.
Established when The Hilden District Nursing Home and Belfast Charitable Society came together through a shared mission, the Barbour Fund, distributes the philanthropic giving on their behalf and will run until 2021. Both societies have a long and successful history of caring for older people, working to improve the lives of those who are less fortunate and, in some instances, providing and facilitating education and training for that purpose.
This celebration is timely as it falls in Philanthropy Fortnight – a two period which celebrates charitable giving and the generosity of others.
Paula Reynolds, CEO of Belfast Charitable Society commented “The Barbour Fund was set up to help the people that need it most and it has enabled many local people to strive to do amazing things by removing barriers and giving everyone access to the same opportunities. Both the Belfast Charitable Society and the Hilden District Nursing Home have a legacy of charitable giving, and it’s important this continues today, given need is as high as ever.
“Reaching our £100,000 milestone is magnificent and knowing that the money has made a real difference to our wider community – well that is priceless. But it’s important to remember, especially during philanthropy fortnight, that we would be unable to provide this funding without those that have entrusted us to use our expert knowledge of the third sector effectively to manage their funds for the greater good.”
With a mission to address social disadvantage and reduce isolation, the Fund has supported many projects including: bursaries at BMET and QUB; job linked training for 40 people with the Ashton Community Trust; an array of resources which help young people who are outside of mainstream education and supported by Belfast Hospital School; and a variety of projects for older people
Elise Coburn, a member of the Barbour Family explains, “The family has always wanted to empower people to better their lot, to give them the opportunity to build themselves up specifically in the Hilden are of Lisburn where we originated from.
“In recent years, however, the trustees felt working with the Belfast Charitable Society to deliver our philanthropic work through the Barbour Fund would enable the family’s legacy to continue on. We are very happy that has proved its case and the £100k which is a very significant amount has gone to many fantastic and needy causes.”
If you would like to find out more about philanthropic giving please contact the Belfast Charitable Society on 028 9099 7022.