Jennie Cowley, GreenPower’s co-ordinator of the Community Benefit Fund for Carraig Gheal Wind Farm, was delighted to receive a heartfelt thank you from North Argyll Volunteer Car Scheme (“NAVCS”) who received one of the end of year micro grant donations in March 2022 of £2,000. They also received a main grant in 2019 of over £5,000 which was of great help during the pandemic.
Allocation of the Fund is decided by the Carraig Gheal Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund Steering Group whose members are drawn from the five local communities around Carraig Gheal Wind Farm. The Chair of the Fund’s Steering Group, Mr David Mudie, said ‘the Fund is in a unique position to support and encourage existing and new community operations both large and small. We recognise that new ventures often have problems with fund-raising and we can provide the seed corn to get things started. Through our relationship with Community Councils our micro grants up to £500 can be quickly released to enable a wide range of local activities.’
The Fund has received over £449,000 from the Wind Farm since it was launched in 2013 , with 72 main grants and 84 micro grants having been awarded.
The next round of funding for the main grants opens on 1st November 2022 and the micro grants can be applied for at anytime. Further information is available on the Carraig Gheal website (http://www.carraigghealwindfarm.co.uk/community-2.html). For application forms and any queries please contact Jennie Cowley at jennie@greenpowerinternational.com.
NAVCS are a group of volunteers who use their own cars to take people who can’t drive or easily use public transport to hospital appointments, GPs, lunch clubs, day care, shops, hairdressers and all the other important services that keep life ticking over. If you would like to use NAVCS or become a volunteer please contact Lisa Robinson on 01852 300434.