Black Country charities given £100,000
Charities across the Black Country received more than £100,000 of funding last month providing lifelines during coronavirus.
This vital funding, raised by National Lottery players, is part of £600 million, recently unveiled for organisations supporting communities, the arts, heritage, education, environment and sports.
In total, 11 community projects in the Black Country are receiving a share.
The Brierley Hill Project in Dudley has been supporting unemployed youngsters while running a food bank throughout the pandemic and have been awarded £10,000.
Jen Hartnell, of The Brierley Hill Project, said: "Thanks to funding, we’ve been able to adapt and increase the number of people we are providing with food parcels and other essentials, offering additional emergency foodbank sessions for the most vulnerable in our community.
“The grant has also allowed us to deliver these parcels to residents who are in self-isolation during the crisis. In April alone, we provided 4,570 meals to local adults and children in need."
African Caribbean Community Initiative (ACCI), a black mental health community support service located in Whitmore Reans, has also been awarded £10,000 to support some of the most vulnerable people in the community during the crisis.
The charity is providing service users with hot meals, remote counselling, telephone support and a 24/7 care service.
Ferdinand Addo, of ACCI, added: “Providing cooked meals ensures our members sustain good healthy eating habits suited to their culture. This also reduces risk of self-neglect and declining physical health, appearance, mental, and emotional wellbeing.
“Our staff are carrying out regular wellbeing checks, so we can monitor how well individuals are coping during Covid-19. This also helps our members feel connected – and importantly, if a member shows symptoms of the virus our staff are rapidly signposting them to the NHS."
Nicola Thurbon, from the Community Fund, said: “It has been inspiring to see how communities in the Black Country have been responding to the crisis. ACCI and The Brierley Hill Project are two of the many projects, from grassroots groups to larger charities, working tirelessly to support their community through these extremely difficult times.
“We will carry on getting vital funding out to charities and voluntary sector organisations, who are working incredibly hard to support our communities during the crisis.”
