Mid-West drug project benefits from Rural Recovery Fund

AN ADDICTION support project in the Mid-West is to benefit for a cash grants and non financial supports from Rethink Ireland with support from the Dormant Accounts Fund and Google.org.

Rethink Ireland announced the Ana Liffey Drug Project (ALDP) as one of the recipients of the €600,000 fund 

The fund was launched last October by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys. Its aim is to support organisations that are innovatively supporting people living in rural areas to access employment or education opportunities, improve their job readiness and build their resilience as we come out of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on minority and underserved communities.

ALDP will use the funds to tackle addiction, homelessness and other social issues across Clare, North Tipperary and Limerick. It currently runs an outreach programme that allows workers to go to rural areas and ensure people can access the services they need. 

It provides tailored support to people to access residential treatment services, engageme in local health services, access housing and, when they are ready, begin volunteer roles, work in their community or return to education and ultimately reintegrate into their community.

The support from the Rural Recovery Fund will allow them to put tailored care plans in place for at least 45 people in these rural areas, who would otherwise have no access to vital services.

Deirdre Mortell, CEO of Rethink Ireland said: “We are delighted to have been able to create the Rural Recovery Fund with support from the Government of Ireland and Google.org who have helped us to provide support for some tremendous initiatives. 

“The challenges of finding work and opportunity in rural Ireland are common to all rural communities, but each with a unique local aspect.

“Each of the six Awardees address these in a unique way as well as showcasing a shared vision of a thriving future for regional and rural communities throughout Ireland and we’re delighted to be able to support them in achieving that vision.

“The new era that we find ourselves in has provided us with a great opportunity to revitalise living and working in rural Ireland in a way that has never been possible before and we hope that we will continue to see projects like these that will contribute to building the prosperous and inclusive communities with rich economic and cultural life we all want to see.”

Shane Nolan, Managing Director, New Business, Google Ireland, said: “At Google, we are always looking for new ways to support the rural communities of Ireland and help businesses throughout the country to grow and take part in new opportunities.

“We were delighted to provide grant support to Rethink Ireland, who have done a fantastic job in empowering some of the best community projects throughout the country and we are looking forward to seeing the great work that the awardees will continue to do as well as the many other great community projects that this could go onto inspire in future.”

Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, provided a $500,000 (€430,000) grant to Rethink Ireland to establish the Rural Recovery Fund.

ALDP services can be accessed by freephone on 1800-78 68 28 or by contacting the Mid-West Team Leader Rachel O’Donoghue on 085-1559158.