Dragons’ Den? More like Lions' Den...

Thursday 02 November 2017

It's like Dragons' Den, but this time, the idea is to help the community...The Lions Club of Jersey is launching an annual bursary of up to £9,000 for youth groups and is asking islanders aged 14 to 19 to come up with an "imaginative use of charitable money" by organising a project for the community.

The Lions Club have decided to launch their bursary after they received a generous donation from Robert E. Brown's estate.

It launches today at the 'JCG Serves' 2017 charity showcase. Young people’s groups, with a maximum of six members aged 14 to 19 years of age, from schools, youth clubs and other similar organisations are invited to compete for the bursary by telling the Lions how they would spend charitable money for the good of the community.

The groups will have to explain what their project is, what its objective is and how much it would cost. They will also have to say how they would manage the funds donated from the Bursary and what would success look like for them. 

Lion Peter Tabb explained: "We are asking young people to rely on their imagination and to come up with an imaginative use for charitable money. We know that they are most likely going to think of activities where people their age are involved but we are not very particular about the nature of the project. What we want is a project that is sustainable, that has value for the community and which is worth spending money on." 

Pictured: Young people are being asked to be as "imaginative" as they can with how they would spend the money to make Jersey better.

He also explained that the Lions Club was inspired to launch the bursary after seeing the work done by their local Young Ambassador, JCG student Rosie Nicholls. "We have always been extremely impressed by the candidates for Young Ambassadors in Jersey, especially our current one, who has been named Ambassador for all the South of England. That's how good she is. We have been extremely impressed by what we see her do and we thought what would other young people if given the opportunity.

"We will apply to the projects the same criteria we apply to the many projects we fund ourselves. We want to help young people be more helpful in their community, which is very much in keeping with the Lions' ethos."

The Lions’ president Lion Ian Barette added: “The Lions believe that whereas the young people of Jersey have always excelled in helping to raise funds for numerous charities across a range of events, they rarely get the opportunity to put significant funds to good use themselves. Now is their chance!”

The different projects will be judged by a panel appointed by the Lions, which will be chaired by Lion Paul Pearce and will include the Lions’ Young Ambassador Rosie Nicholls. The winning project will receive up to £9,000 as well as mentoring support to help guide them towards achieving their aims.

The first bursary will be awarded at the end of February next year and the Lions Club say they will be offering it for at least five years. Entries will be accepted from any youth group  until 5 January 2018.