Charity fund holds information evening
An event to promote a community fund which has distributed more than £300,000 to good causes was attended by more than 50 people.
The event, to provide information about the work of the We Love Lichfield fund, was held at The Hub in the former St Mary's Church in the city centre.
The fund distributes grants to voluntary and charitable groups across Lichfield and Burntwood.
Lichfield auctioneer Richard Winterton, who helped organise the event on Thursday last week, said he was pleased with the turnout.
“We timed it so people could drop in after work and it was brilliant to see so many charities call in for advice as well as businesses networking," he said.
“With more than 50 people attending and lots of people engaging with We Love Lichfield, either finding out more about how to apply for grants or how they can help raise funds, it was great to see such a buzz for this charitable fund which means so much to us all.”
Mr Winterton also used the event to hand over a cheque for £1,200 to the fund. He was joined by Wai-Lee Ho who keeps The Ruby Restaurant, who handed over a cheque for £1,000 raised during the Chinese New Year celebrations.
Simon Price, Patron of We Love Lichfield, said there was a great deal of voluntary work going on across Lichfield and surrounding areas.
He said the event sought to bring people together to connect with businesses, by showing how the voluntary sector helped their customers, and also to form relationships with new voluntary groups.
The fund was formed 10 years ago, and over that time has distributed grants of just over £300,000 to more than 200 groups across the district.
Companies and individuals are welcome to donate or raise funds, and all money is invested through a permanent endowment fund by registered charity The Community Foundation for Staffordshire.
The interest and dividends earned on the invested money is then distributed by the We Love Lichfield Fund as small grants across the district.
"The beauty of this model is that it will provide a source of on-going funding that can be used for small grants, and larger grants as the fund grows, for many years to come," said a spokesman.
