In March 2017 we announced that 9 local voluntary and community groups had successfully secured funding through the Coventry 4 Good grants scheme. Lets see how some of the groups spent the funds:

Timeout Counselling

Timeout Counselling are a gender and sexual diversity specialist counselling service. They used the Coventry 4 good grant to send two counsellors on Pink Therapy training in June, to allow them growth in their training. Both of their counsellors found the training helped to solidify their knowledge and comfort with counselling in gender and sexual diversity. 

One counsellor said of the training "The working with gender identity training was invaluable for my practice - it helped me reflect on and deepen my understanding on how gender is constructed; supported and updated my knowledge about processes at Gender Identity Clinics and gave me space to further explore my sense of my own gender and how this impacts on the counselling relationship."

Another counsellor said "What I found most rewarding about the training was the sharing of personal lived experience of gender identity, and the activities which allowed me to reflect upon my own. This was valuable in several respects - firstly to hear about the individual experiences of gender identity was very educational, but also in the delivery - how though we may have different experiences, we’re all people!  To reflect then, for me personally, this highlighted how a fear of ‘getting it wrong’ when working with gender identity was getting in the way of seeing the person in front of me. I found the training very informative and thought provoking- It’s put what worries I had about practicing in this area to rest."

God's Coffee Shop

God’s Coffee Shop provides a meal and fellowship to homeless, vulnerable, lonely people on the streets of Coventry. The grant has been partially used at present to buy thermos pots for transporting food to their clientele. They are also spending the award on a logo
and merchandise for God’s Coffee Shop which is currently work in progress.

26th City of Coventry Brownies

16 Brownies and volunteers attended a day camp at Castle Mound in Fillongley. Jean Rawlings, Brownie Leader reported on their very special day out. 

"We arrived at the Campsite with threatening clouds and were grateful for the shelter of the wonderful new cabins at Castle Mound.  We
were able to welcome the girls and their fa
milies as they arrived then the girls set about preparing their own packed lunches.

After drinks and biscuits, the sun came out and we ventured onto the field to do the planned activities.  Roger and Gyll showed the girls how to make giant catapults and the Brownies delighted in shooting “food” towards Tiny, the teddy bear.  Once they had got the hang of aiming and firing then they used water balloons to fire at each other.  There ensued much laughter and squealing and a great time was had by all.

After all this excitement, we donned wellies and armed with our packed lunches, set off to explore the Mound, jumping over the streams, hiding in the long grass and managing to avoid the stinging nettles - well, most of the time.  We found a place for a picnic where the grass was very tall and our ordinary lives seemed very far away.  

There were more challenges in the afternoon when Bronia, our
District Commissioner, set up an alter fire and the girls were able to cook on it.
 The girls were then joined by their families for games and songs on the field.

We all agreed, we had shared a very special day, made possible by the grant from Coventry 4 good.  When we met on Monday, parents told me how much their daughters had enjoyed the day and
expressed their thanks to Coventry 4 Good and Girlguiding for
making days like this possible for their daughters, who may not
otherwise experience the joy of the outdoors and the fun of the adventures it presents."

Trinjen

Knitting for a Purpose project aims to address the social isolation and loneliness experienced by older people. The knitted wear that the group produced was donated to the poor in Third world countries and also following disasters, for example they donated knitted items following the Philippines disaster and to the poor in India and Africa. 

They also recently knitted a set of dolls depicting a variety of ethnic groups, which will be used to explain and promote racial tolerance within UK schools.

 

International Children Future Power

ICFP purchased two guitars and a keyboard to encourage children who are underperforming in school to experience and experiment
with musical instruments from different cultures.