Good causes helped by Co-op community fund
Community groups in Staffordshire, Walsall and Birmingham are among 22 good causes sharing £30,000 in funding from Central England Co-op Community Dividend Fund.
Groups apply for between £100 and £5,000 every two months to support all manner of projects after, the fund was temporarily repurposed for the past 12 months to support good causes impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. During that time 116 good causes have shared more than £175,000 from the Lichfield-based co-operative society's fund.
Society secretary Andy Seddon said: “Community dividend fund grants showcase how by being a member and shopping at your local Central England Co-op store it allows us as a society to continue to invest and fund vital projects in the area – especially during uncertain times like these."
LGK in the Community, in Walsall, has received £1,000 to provide help, support and education to people impacted by food poverty.
The same sum has gone to Kendall & Wall Charitable Trust, in Lichfield, to help combat loneliness and isolation among the elderly and the city's Cherishers initiative to help the running of a lunch club.
Elayos, in Birmingham, received £1,500 to help employ a special co-ordinator to support women who are living in poverty with newborn or young children, and Friends of Lifford Reservoir, in Birmingham, got £1,000 to help with the creation of an apple orchard.
Kings Norton Team Parish also got £1,000 to pay for wood to build wheelchair-friendly planters and Oasis Community Hub: Foundry and Boulton was given £1,500 to help pay for a volunteer co-ordinator to serve the Winson Green and Handsworth communities.
