Andover Community Engage lose funding for new home

Volunteers at Andover Community Engage (ACE) were due to move into a new building in Bridge Street on Saturday, March but 23 but this now looks uncertain after the team's hope of a grant from the National Lottery Million Hours Fund has reportedly fallen through.

A fundraiser has now been launched online which currently has a target of £20,000 to make the move possible.

The fundraiser, on Crowdfunder, reads: "We are moving to our permanent building, and some of our funding has fallen through, and without additional support, we will lose our lease. Please help."

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The team has also taken to Facebook to share the news.

A post reads: "Sorry, we've been quiet this week. It has been quite stressful for us. As you know, we were always going to be on a tight budget to get the building and renovate it. Unfortunately, we received the devastating news that one of our significant sources of funding for the lease has fallen through.

"Big girl pants are pulled up, and we are doing everything we can to sort the situation out in time for the planned lease sign date, next week.

"This means we have to call on your support prior to the big move-in. Please help in any way you can."

Volunteer Tania Hall said the charity is currently homeless and was previously based in the Chantry Centre but moved out on Friday, January, 26.

Ms Hall, who has been volunteering for four years, said: "We were hoping the new building was going to be ready by then but it hasn't been. 

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"We had a grant in that was quite a substantial amount to help with the lease of the building which is why we are now needing to get the money. We won't stop what we are doing. The amount of times that we have faced this problem and we've always just found another temporary solution.

"It would be our future home and we have so many more projects that are going to help families and our community if we could have this building. The projects will be massive and they will help so many more people so it's really important we get this building."

ACE runs multiple projects to meet aims, such as relieving poverty, preserving and protecting the environment, advancing education, promoting physical and mental health, and connecting the community.

It currently meets these aims through its projects, which include the Clothing and Baby Bank, the Community Lounge, the Community Fridge and Pantry, and ACE Youth.

The charity also provides an emergency referral service for social services, emergency foster placements, finding freedom, Two Saints, Citizens Advice and Job Centre work coaches.

To help the team visit the fundraiser at crowdfunder.co.uk/p/a-space-for-ace.

Crowdfunder will match whatever it gets.

A spokesperson for the The National Lottery Community Fund, added: “As with any of our funding programmes, we encourage groups to apply, but we can never guarantee their success.

“The Million Hours fund was very popular and we received nearly double the expected number of applications. We only had a certain amount of funding to award, which means that we had to make some tough decisions around which ones to take forward.”

The Million Hours Fund programme was created for organisations to give extra support to young people in areas where they may be at risk of anti-social behaviour.