Dundee Rotary Club gives £2,100 to addiction recovery programme

We Are With You £2,100 donation from Dundee Rotary Centenary Fund

The Rotary Club of Dundee is helping people with a lived experience of addiction to use that awareness to gain qualifications for careers in health care.

The club is donating £2100 to send two volunteers from the We Are With You charity to Dundee and Angus College to study for SVQ awards.

 The money is one of the last payments from the club’s £100,000 centenary fund for good causes to mark its 100th anniversary.

We Are With You is a drug, alcohol and mental health charity rebranded in 2020 from its former title of Addaction.

It has more than 50 years’ experience of providing drug and alcohol support in the UK and has been active in Dundee for the last 11 years.

It has positioned itself as a first line service tackling the challenges of substance use in the city with the unenviable reputation having the highest per capita drug death rate in Europe.

We Are With You has a team of volunteers who have lived experience of substance use challenges or have shared a home with a family member who has had issues with alcohol or drugs.

 Some of the volunteers are keen to develop themselves and use their experience to benefit others.

Studying for Scottish Vocational Qualifications through using that awareness has been identified as a positive way to help the volunteers find careers in health care.

 The £2,100 from Dundee Rotary Club will meet the costs of sending two of the volunteers to Dundee & Angus College to gain the qualification with the charity providing placements, support and guidance to the candidates.

 Clive Murray, President of Dundee Rotary Club, said: “Addiction levels in Dundee are sadly all too well known and we could not complete our centenary programme of financial support for a range of highly significant projects without acknowledging and contributing to the challenge the city faces with substance use.

“Hopefully through educational attainment we can provide opportunity for candidates to build a better life and also give something back through sharing their lived experience.

 Dave Barrie, service manager at Dundee We Are With You, said: “ We are very grateful of the Dundee Rotary donation.

“This will go along way to support two people back into training and back into the job market.

“We look forward to developing a on going relation ship with the Rotary so they will have a positive legacy in tackling some of the challenges the city faces with alcohol and drugs ''

 Dundee Rotary Club’s £100,000 Centenary Fund for good causes has included £24,000 to a tutoring scheme for pupils whose education has been disrupted by the pandemic, and £11,000 on developing the bowel cancer research programme at the University of Dundee to detect other serious illnesses.

 It has also seen £10,000 donated to a joint venture with the Dundee Guildry for home blood pressure monitors, and £25,000 on a joint venture with the Nine Incorporated Trades for 15 local charities. 

Further awards included £5000 to Douglas schools for musical instruments in the Big Noise Project and a £25,000 commitment to a bursary scheme for post graduate design students at Duncan of Jordanstone College.