A Preston charity who help ex-offenders be resettled after time in prison have received a large lottery pay out.
AdvertisementCaritas Care’s ACE service will be given £450,000 from the National Lottery over the next three years.
The ACE (Assisted Community Engagement Service) allows the team based in Sedgwick Street, Deepdale, to give advice, guidance and emotional support to prisoners in their first few weeks after release.
Running since 2002 the programme has six staff and 10 volunteers as well as social work students from the University of Central Lancashire learning alongside them.
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Director of community services at Caritas Care Dale Tomlinson said: “We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work in this way. Now, thanks to National Lottery players we will be able to press on with our plans to broaden the range of opportunities available to people leaving prison and support them to live stable and crime free lives.
“This is important because it helps them to build relationships with others facing similar challenges and to create their own supportive circles of friends and peers.”
The charity is also able to expand their Members After Prison support group.
ACE service manager Sharon Smith said: “We are absolutely thrilled with this news. It means so much to so many people. It’s truly heart-warming to see the distance that people have travelled from when they first engaged with the service to completing our support programmes. We are overjoyed to now be able to continue this work and support even more people to create better lives for themselves.
“We are also really happy that our mentors and volunteers, many of whom have been involved in the service for a number of years, can continue to their work to engage and support people as part of their rehabilitation into their families and communities.”
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