St. Patrick’s Youth Club Keady is to receive at least €5,000 in funding from this year’s Coca Cola ‘Thank You’ Fund.
The club is among eleven non-profit organisations from Northern Ireland receiving a grant share of €200,000 which is being distributed to organisations across the island.
St. Patrick’s Youth Club provides a variety of youth work programmes for the young people from the wider Keady and district community including targeted nights for the junior club, young men, young women, and drop-in provision within the youth club.
Delivered in partnership with the Irish Youth Foundation and supporting partners YouthAction Northern Ireland, the fund invests in community groups that support young people, with this year’s focus centred on empowering young people through learning, inclusion, and sustainable development.
This year Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and Northern Ireland and its partner The Coca-Cola Company joined forces to double the amount of funding on offer, making €200,000 in grants available.
In total, four recipient organisations from Northern Ireland were selected to receive a grant of up to €10,000 to develop and implement their youth programme.
These organisations include North West Islamic Association (Derry-Londonderry), LLTCA (Down), Patrician Youth Centre (Down), and Fighting Words Northern Ireland (Antrim).
St. Patrick’s Youth Club Keady is among six other organisations from Northern Ireland receiving at least €5,000 in funding to support their local project.
These groups include Manor Street/Cliftonville Community Group (Belfast), Destined Ltd (Derry-Londonderry), The Magnet Youth Adult Centre (Down), The Rainbow Child and Family Centre (Derry-Londonderry), Active Communities Network (Antrim), and Crisis Café (Newry).
Congratulating the recipients of this year’s fund, Tom Burke, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Director at Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and Northern Ireland says that they are focused on “empowering young people through learning, inclusion, and sustainable development”.
He continued: “With a legacy in Northern Ireland going back over 80 years, we believe in empowering the next generation of young people, and we look forward to seeing the great work that will be done by the eleven projects selected for this year’s Fund.”
Speaking on the judging process, Sheila Morris, Membership Development and Growth Team Leader of YouthAction Northern Ireland, said: “This year, we were delighted to once again work on the Coca-Cola Thank You Fund alongside the Irish Youth Foundation and a panel of industry experts, to identify community-based programmes and projects that engaged young people in models of innovative and inclusive practices.
“The standard of applications across the three pillars of learning, inclusion, and sustainable development has been incredibly high. Although it was a challenging process, it was a really enlightening and rewarding experience to hear from the substantial number of community groups available to support vulnerable young people.”
