Most of us are all too familiar with the rising costs of living and inflation. Here at BCM, our teams also contend with rising costs for delivering key services, mirrored by the escalating deprivation and exclusion experienced by many of our users. This all sounds a bit gloomy, but that sentiment has not ground down the determined and positive staff and volunteers working on frontline services, despite the difficulties they face.

This summer we are happy to share our own inflation story- one that speaks volumes about the commitment and passion of our volunteers and staff who have worked tirelessly in the last year to deliver a dynamic service for our users. Through various analyses of different aspects of our work, independent social scientists with Work West found that for every pound spent by BCM, the impacts on people’s lives have ‘inflated’ by almost five times.

How do they do this? Most of it comes from our worker’s themselves; their knowledge, experience and commitment to go the extra mile for someone - interfacing with agencies and individuals from across the charitable, faith and statutory sectors. They will often use great innovation and sheer dogged tenacity to pull out the best resources and outcomes for our beneficiaries. Types of help include;

1) Practical: starting with very practical low-level help that facilitates basic everyday activities.

2) Enabling Decisions: through trust building, service users are helped to make wise decisions that will enhance their life prospects.

3) Emotional Support: promoting independence and confidence.

4) Social: expanding horizons from situations where people have found themselves isolated, perhaps due to trauma, or gradual loss of family and friends.

5) Person centred: responsive and adaptable to every individual and their circumstances.

So, this summer we are setting ourselves a challenge - in our Strive for Five initiative we seek your support in providing the means not only to sustain and consolidate our services, but also to continuously improve our impacts on people’s lives, magnifying your financial support every time by a factor of five or more. This is our commitment to both those who engage with our services, and to you our supporter.

We will do this through investing in both our people and our delivery methods. We will also cast a wider net in gathering information about the people and services that are the lifeblood of BCM.

One such support service that will benefit from your funding support this year will be our Parent Support Service. Any funds raised will help to build on sustainable delivery of our Dungannon and Newtownards projects during the remainder of 2023 and beyond. Our colleagues there offer guidance and respite for parents of children and young people often facing challenging situations in the face of the ongoing cost of living crisis. One local government representative reported the following about one of our Parent Support project workers.

This is the embodiment of our Strive for Five- ‘going above and beyond’ to magnify the impact on people’s lives by as much as we can humanly achieve.

So, if you can, please make a donation of whatever you can afford. Every donation will help and will make five times the difference in someone's life.

Thank you for your continued interest and support for the work of BCM.

For more information on how to get involved, contact us by clicking HERE or if you want to hold your own fundraiser, you can visit https://www.belfastcentralmission.org/get-involved