Funding for organisations in Suffolk impacted by COVID-19 – last chance to apply

Charities and community organisations in Suffolk who have been struggling to maintain their work or are facing increased demand can now access £500 of funding from Tesco’s COVID19 fund, administered by community charity Groundwork.

This funding was opened in April to help organisations that are supporting communities in response to the pandemic. The funding is now coming to an end and the last date for funding submission is Friday 18th September 2020.

Organisations can apply for up to £500 to help with the following:

• Increased demand – e.g. a holiday hunger club needs more resources to support children through the summer months or a food bank whose stocks are running low and needs an immediate donation to enable the food bank to restock.
• Disrupted services – e.g. a local charity setting up a delivery service to replace its monthly lunch club, or a charity needing to set up a telephone service to support beneficiaries.
• New services – e.g. a health focused charity having to set up a new online patient service requires new IT equipment or a mental health charity developing a new service.
• Groundwork encourage all organisations who meet the funding criteria to apply, and second applications are also welcomed (provided the work funded by the first has been completed).

Volunteering Matters in Ipswich used the funding to translate key health information and family support resources to help those who have English as a second language to get the advice they needed during the pandemic.

Shivani Patel, Fundraising Assistant Volunteering Matters, said; “In Suffolk, thanks to support from Tesco COVID-19 Community Funding, our volunteers are helping at-risk families in Ipswich that are potential the most isolated to connect with other parts of our community, creating new alliances and friendships, reducing the likelihood of young people being neglected and supporting families access to support from specialist partners such as money advice (that would otherwise go unnoticed). Family packs have been created and delivered by staff and include activities for children (for reception age to year 6), resources for families and useful health and wellbeing tips. The family packs will help parents maintain their families wellbeing, ensure they feel supported and increase protective factors in the home. So far, 200 children and family packs have been delivered.”

A beneficiary of their scheme said, “I would be doing a whole lot of nothing otherwise. The activities are an escape, and they take my mind off other things.”

Recipient of the grant The Hygiene Bank Waveneysaid; “When the pandemic started, our donations plummeted almost overnight but our community partners were still in need of hygiene products – and some even told us the need became more acute. The funding has allowed us to buy products to deliver to the community directly to make up for the drop-in donations. We couldn’t be more grateful – without the funding we don’t know how we would have continued to serve the most vulnerable people in our area.”

East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice said “Our care team are working tirelessly to care for our nation’s most defenceless individuals during the spread of Coronavirus, however, its impact has reduced our ability to raise funds dramatically which has a direct impact on the services we can deliver. Therefore, this funding helps our current core services continue, which includes end of life care, symptom management, emergency day care, crisis ventilation care and online emotional support to families. It will allow our multi-disciplinary team to continue these services and give a lifeline to children and families during this frightening time.

“We could not be more grateful to wonderful supporters like Tesco for helping us to survive an initial devastating drop in income, the support that we have received has helped us to support families at home by phone and online, having rapidly developed our knowledge and expertise in delivering services using virtual technology.”

For more information contact Jane Herbert on 07726 695996 or jane.herbert@groundwork.org.uk.