Co-op community fund awards £50,000 cash boost to 29 groups to ensure vital work continues to help those in need

Posted by rob smyth | Published: 21/04/2020

Central England Co-op has shared out £50,000 between 29 good causes to ensure they can continue their vital community working during the Coronavirus outbreak.

The organisations were delighted to receive the funding boost during these uncertain times from the retailer’s Community Dividend Fund.

The money will now be spent by charities and organisations to ensure that events, activities and support that otherwise might have been postponed or cancelled can still go ahead and provide a vital boost to the local community.

Organisations in the following areas has been awarded a grant: Stafford, Burton, Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lichfield, West Midlands, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Northamptonshire, Nottingham, Birmingham and Warwickshire.

Some of the groups to benefit from the funding include:

• Community Transformation, based in Chesterfield, will use nearly £2,000 to support a project designed at building support and relationships for people in need across the area
• West Leicestershire Community First Responder Group supports East Midlands Ambulance Service by sending trained volunteers to medical emergencies while people await the arrival of a paramedic. The group has been awarded £2,600 to buy specialist training equipment to ensure it can continue to support the emergency services during the current Coronavirus pandemic
• Get Wise Enterprise, in Nottingham, will use £1,990 to continue to support ex-offenders and people with mental health problems or severe learning difficulties during lockdown
• A variety of hospices will use grants to ensure they can continue vital work as fund-raising becomes more difficult following the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic
• The Butterfield Centre, in Lincolnshire, will buy two benches with a £300 grant to ensure its dementia patients can still enjoy time outdoors while social distancing
• A total of £2,800 has been handed to Woodhouse Farm and Garden CIC, in Lichfield, to support vital refurbishment work to ensure it can still provide fruit and vegetables for the community during lockdown
• Several schools have been awarded funds to support work to educate the children of key workers during this uncertain time

Debbie Robinson, Central England Co-op Chief Executive, said: “Now more than ever being a co-operative business that sits at the heart of our communities is so important.

“We are delighted that these great projects and good causes have been handed a grant that will allow them to continue their fantastic work in the community at this uncertain time.

“Community Dividend Fund grants like this showcase how by being a member and shopping at your local Central England Co-op store allows us as a Society to continue to invest and fund vital projects in the area.”

Grants of between £100 and £5,000 are handed out every three months to a wide range of applicants.

The fund guarantees that at least one per cent of the Society’s trading profit is reinvested in local communities in a bid to help projects to thrive across its trading area of 16 counties from the Midlands to the east coast.

People can apply for funding by visiting https://communities.centralengland.coop/

Becoming a member of Central England Co-operative offers a whole host of benefits ranging from collecting points every time you spend in store to earn a share of the profits, access to members activities and community initiatives including the Community Dividend Fund.

Find out how to become a Central England Co-operative member by calling 0800 0501 601, emailing members@centralengland.coop or visiting https://www.members.coop

Notes to editors

Picture caption: Central England Co-op’s Community Dividend Fund has shared out £50,000 to good causes to help ease the impact of the Coronavirus.

About Central England Co-operative

Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK with interests in food, funeral, floral, travel and property investment.

Co-operatives have always been there for their communities; they were formed to protect them and help them flourish. 

Our 7,900 colleagues who serve Members and customers work hard to ensure that co-operative values, principles and spirit flow through everything we do to help support and improve our local communities.

Owned by hundreds of thousands of Members, we have over 430 trading outlets across 16 counties including West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. 

We are proud of our reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.

We invest a percentage of our trading profit into local communities through our Community Dividend Fund scheme, have donated over £1.3 million to our corporate charity partner Dementia UK and also operate a pioneering food redistribution partnership with FareShare Midlands so unsold food goes to those in need.

Visit www.centralengland.coop for more information or follow us on Facebook or Twitter using @mycoopfood

Press office contacts: Rob Smyth and James Brindle

Phone - 01543 421390

Email - publicrelations@centralengland.coop