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Grant of the Month - June 2008

DANSOM - DANISH SOMALI COMMUNITY LEICESTER

DANSOM was created by a group of Somalian refugees who have settled in Leicester. They provide different services to the Somalian community, such as education and Social and Leisure activities e.g. sports and homework clubs for young people.

After submitting a successful application to Sports Relief and being awarded £8814.00, DANSOM are now in a position to provide the following activities for their local community (covering Beaumont Leys, New Parks, St. Matthews, Coleman and Spinny Hill):

Swimming for families (15 families for 30 weeks)
Gymnastics for families (2hr sessions for 35 weeks)
Basketball for men 50 and over (2hr sessions for 30 weeks)

“We have been running different activities for the community for the last five years and through experience and talking to the community members we know what they want. The most needed activities were for isolated mothers and fathers (and their children) who arrived in this country within the last four years. They are either immigrants from other European Countries or Refugees from Africa. Almost all of those families are on income support or job seekers allowance.” (Mr. A Rizack group co-ordinator)

Funding from Sports Relief will allow DANSOM to provide a series of activities for the local community once a week for up to 35 weeks. It will also cover project Co-ordination costs and volunteer expenses.

The project will:

Improve the health of the community members both adults and children
Improve the behaviour and Social Skills of the community members
Reduce obesity within the community
Create friendships between the community members
Improve team work and reduce isolation
Improve relationships between adults and children within the community
Increase the numbers of people volunteering within the community

“Being awarded a grant from Sports Relief and Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Community Foundation gives our organization moral support and encouragement to serve our community” (Mr. A Rizack group Co-ordinator)

We wish them luck with the delivery of their project!