Volunteers 'multiply' grant aid
Volunteers are the key to multiplying small amounts of money to values way beyond the original amount, Cllr Ivan Keatley told the recent Community & Sports Clubs Open Evening in Kilcullen.
Noting that Kildare County Council grants of even a few hundred euros are 'critically important' to small groups in a community, writes Brian Byrne, he said the Council is well aware that every euro given can become €10, €20 or even €100 when groups of volunteers get their hands on it and add to it with their own fundraising, time and work.
"Whether it is used for planting in an estate, or just to put petrol in the lawnmower to cut the public grass areas, the benefits are huge," he said, adding that the value would never be as big if the original money was handed out to a private contractor to do the work.
He acknowledged that more groups were looking for even small slices of a 'cake that is getting ever small', but he said the Council was still anxious to hear from residents associations and other groups. He said an Information Forum in November will facilitate this for the 2013 grants round.
The Community & Sports Clubs event was organised under the auspices of Kilcullen 2017, the implementation group for the community Development Plan which came out of the Community Survey commissioned last year by Kilcullen Community Action.
