Specially created film shows how community grant has improved the lives of people in Derbyshire
Posted by nathan lloyd | Published: 22/12/2016
Lonely and isolated people in part of Derbyshire have been given a new lease of life thanks to the success of a Central England Co-operative Community Dividend Fund grant.
Somercotes Salvation Army were handed a total of £4,200 earlier this year after they made a desperate appeal to help spruce up their kitchen facilities in an effort to cater for rising numbers of community members in need.
Now, several months on, the new kitchen has been installed and is helping to provide hot food and drinks to over 70 people each week.
Terrance Carpenter, Territorial Envoy for Somercotes Salvation Army, revealed more about why the new kitchen was vital to people in the area as part of a specially created film by Central England Co-operative.
He said: “We work with lonely and isolated individuals who do not see a soul from one week to the next.
“We identified a need in this area for people to get together socially, and for economic reasons as well, and have a hot meal.
“Our kitchen facilities were diabolical and had not been changed for 20 to 30 years. In order to fulfil a desire to be relevant to the local community we needed to upgrade our kitchen facilities.
“We have 74 children and parents on our books – we feed them, do crafts, painting, singing and a film show – and this will now continue to grow thanks to the new kitchen and new services we can offer as a result.
“I would recommend the Community Dividend Fund to anyone. Anyone who has a heart for community and wants to make their community better should go for it.”
See Terry talk about how the Community Dividend Fund helped the Salvation Army by watching our specially created film
Grants of between £100 and £5,000 are handed out every three months to a wide range of applicants.
The fund guarantees that 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.
In the past year, a total of 89 charities and organisations have shared nearly £160,000 for a wide range of projects.
People can apply for funding by heading online and visiting https://communities.centralengland.coop/ or heading in store to pick up an application form.
Potential applicants have to have been a Central England Co-operative member for six months, the project should be in the trading area of a Central England Co-operative store and all applications will need a referee.
Notes to editors
About Central England Co-operative
Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK. It is a modern, forward-looking organisation employing over 8,000 staff, with projected gross sales of £958million for 2016/17. The Society recently celebrated being named Leading Co-operative of the Year 2016 by Co-operatives UK. The Society’s principal areas of activity are food, funeral services, and property. Central England Co-operative has more than 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. The Society has an ambitious food store development programme for 2016/17.
Central England Co-operative is proud of its reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility. It is a member of Business in the Community, the membership organisation that stands for responsible business, and has also won many business awards for excellence. The Society supports a number of charities including Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children and invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities.
For more information visit http://www.centralengland.coop follo,w Central England Co-operative on Twitter: @mycoopfood, and on Facebook: facebook.com/centralenglandcooperative
Rob Smyth – PR officer - Central England Co-operative - 01543 414140
Email – publicrelations@centralengland.coop