As the National Lottery celebrates its 27th birthday, Sport Wales is encouraging communities to think about how they might use some of the £30million raised for good causes each week.
Build Dreams, Create Change is the latest campaign from the National Lottery and it is designed to inspire people to think how funding might help their own community.
Across the UK, four striking installations are being unveiled this week to mark the birthday celebrations. In Wales, the installation – made from thousands of lottery balls – is on display at Wales Millennium Centre and it highlights the work of Street Football Wales which has received National Lottery funding.
Scott Jeynes is the Project Manager of Street Football Wales:
“Build dreams, create change is certainly something that resonates with us, 100%. Without the National Lottery, we wouldn’t have been able to reach 150 to 200 socially-excluded players. We offer drop-in football sessions and the opportunity to play at World Cups – but it’s so much more than that. Using the universal language of football, the players open up to us about issues perhaps with housing support or other needs, and we can join the dots to make sure they get the help they need. It is a life-changing project and we see players go on to gain employment and improve their situations.”
Since Sport Wales first began distributing National Lottery grants, it has directly supported 26,791 grassroots sports projects. The National Lottery has transformed the sporting landscape - it has built and upgraded facilities, purchased equipment and funded first aid and coaching courses.
