FUNDING

Funding issues are never too far away when one gets involved in community development projects like the Lighthouse. Last night Stuart MacQuarrie and I had a meeting with one of our funders, the Parish Development Fund, with a view to a continuation of funding for a further 2 years. We now have a deadline of 4 weeks to get our application in, which will involve a considerable amount of work for Stuart. I also have a deadline of 20th February for another funding bid, so a bit of work to be done there too! It's hard work for people like Stuart and many ministers within congregations to put in these extra hours for funding applications, but without them, we wouldn't have the Lighthouse, and we wouldn't have so much of the work which makes such a difference to the lives of so many people within our local community.

It might sound like very turgid work filling in forms, but over the years it has given me great joy to be able to connect these funding efforts with making a real difference in peoples lives. Several times over the years we have hit the jackpot (as it were!) with major funding awards, and there is nothing quite like that sense of joy and celebration when all the hard work pays off. It is a much more competitive situation these days in terms of funding, but hopefully we will be able to find sufficient income to enable the Lighthouse to continue to serve the local community.