Sponsorship deal will help ‘more people find hope through recovery’

Learning Pool will be sponsoring the programme for the next three years.

ARC Fitness is a not for profit social enterprise which supports individuals and their loved ones in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction through learning, coaching, physical activity and community support.

It was set up in March last year by Gary Rutherford, a local man who overcame drug addiction and is now a registered mental health nurse.

Gary’s addictions began at a very young age. He has been completely sober for the last eight years and he found that exercise was an essential part of his recovery.

“Exercise was a massive integral part of my recovery. It helped me rebuild self worth, self esteem confidence and I got fitter. All the damage that had been done to my body was reversed through exercise.”

Since it was set up, ARC has helped almost 30 people who have issues with substance misuse through tailored exercise and one-to-one programmes.

The programme has an impressive success rate, with more than 70 per cent of participants continuing to engage with the group.

There is also a social element to the group, with members and their families regularly meeting up outside the gym.

As a result of the Covid restrictions, the majority of ARC’s programmes had to move online.

Local e-learning solutions company Learning Pool have helped Gary develop and maintain the ARC Academy online.

This allows ARC to reach a worldwide audience with an addiction recovery learning platform.

The ARC Academy helps individuals gains the knowledge and insight to get on top of their relationship with substances.

It has been instrumental in allowing ARC to deliver it’s services during the current Covid situation.

Learning Pool has now agreed to sponsor ARC for the next three years and it will enable more people to get assistance with their recovery.

“Learning Pool shares the vision of ARC Fitness to help build a positive and hope-filled future for people struggling with substance misuse,” Gary said.
“At ARC Fitness we believe that hope is contagious. This sponsorship opportunity will allow ARC Fitness to not only secure fully functional premises as a base for all its operations, it will also allow ARC to accommodate even more programmes that will in turn help even more individuals and their families find hope through recovery.”

Gary said the investment by Learning Pool will help develop the ARC Academy further.

“It will allow us to extend our service beyond the locality of Derry and reach people in the wider community and others further afield.”

He said that capacity and funding have been huge challenges for ARC Fitness and this sponsorship will allow the organisation to support more people.

“ARC has faced many challenges since its inception 18 months ago, securing funding, the restrictive nature of the Covid-19 pandemic but mostly the lack of capacity. The capacity to help more people; to offer more services and the capacity to provide hope and support to as many people as possible. This sponsorship has changed all that.”

Gary thanked Learning Pool for believing in the work being done at ARC Fitness and ‘mostly for believing in our ability to grow and progress our much needed service. With your help the future looks pretty bright.’

Announcing the sponsorship. Louise McElvaney, Director of People at Learning Pool, said: “Learning Pool are delighted to be able to help ARC Fitness for the next three years. We’ve been amazed by the impact Gary and his team have made in a short time with ARC, especially in these difficult times, and we’re excited to help him develop ARC’s potential.

“We hope that many more businesses locally will join us as sponsors in due course.”

For more information visit: https://www.facebook.com/arcfitnessni/ or https://arcfitness.co.uk/