Published: 11 August 2023
In our recent wave of monthly smaller grants, we’ve given over half a million pounds to churches and charities across the UK and Ireland.
From free furniture, to food, to fixer-uppers – see some of the projects we’re supporting across our new Community Impact and Building Improvement grants programmes…
Community Impact Grants
SCRATCH, Southampton
Six million people in the UK live in ‘furniture poverty’, where they can’t access the basic items needed to make a home liveable. SCRATCH supports people in Southampton and the surrounding areas, often extremely vulnerable people who need a secure and stable home and may have had no option but to stay in unsuitable and unsafe accommodation.
In 2022, SCRATCH gave over 7,344 people essential furniture, white goods and toys. They also moved 60 households from unsafe accommodation, resettling them into comfortable and secure accommodation.
A £20,400 Community Impact Grant will enable SCRATCH to expand their support and help many more vulnerable families.
St Mary’s Cathedral Middlesbrough Justice & Peace Group
For several years, St Mary’s Cathedral has partnered with organisations to provide meals and activities during school holidays for families who need extra support. During the various lockdowns, the cathedral started delivering food parcels to around 30 families. The service has continued to grow due to the current cost of living crisis, and St Mary’s is now delivering food to over 100 families.
The cost of the fresh food has escalated, and the work is all done by a team of generous volunteers. A £2,400 grant will help St Mary’s continue to reach those most in need across one of the most disadvantaged areas of the UK.
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Benefice of Newnham with Awre and Blakeney, Gloucestershire
Newnham, Awre and Blakeney are communities on the edge of the Forest of Dean, where children’s aspirations are generally low and opportunities are limited. The Benefice of Newnham has been working in partnership with Sportily to change this, engaging local schools in active RE lessons, mental health first aid training for children, and sports clubs.
A £3,200 grant will help to build on Sportily’s work in local schools over the last 18 months, by running holiday clubs and weekly after school groups in the Benefice’s underused community youth space.
Building Improvement Grants
St Mark's Parish Hall, Pendlebury, Greater Manchester
St Mark’s Church has supported its community in Pendlebury for nearly 100 years. The church serves a population of around 3,850 people in an area that is ranked one of the most deprived in the UK. The church urgently needs to upgrade its parish hall so it can continue to serve local people. It was built in 1955, and the boiler is over 40 years old, there is no insulation, and the lighting is failing.
A £7,100 Building Improvement Grant will enable the hall to undergo developments, including new Infra-Red Heating, LED lighting and solar panels. The church will set the way for the diocese’ goal of being net zero by 2038.
Downfield Mains Church, Dundee
Downfield Mains Church plans to do a major upgrade of its sanctuary, changing it from an area used one day a week into a multi-purpose area that can be used by both the church and the wider community.
A grant of £11,270 will support the development, which will include the removal of pews and a redundant organ, new insulation, air source heat pumps, new lighting, a new AV system, secondary glazing, and the repair of the stained-glass windows.
