Twenty-six community groups and charities handed £40,000 funding boost
Posted by rob smyth | Published: 09/01/2019
Twenty-six projects are celebrating after sharing £40,000 in the latest payout from Central England Co-operative’s Community Dividend Fund.
A wide range of groups, organisations and charities were handed grants, with a total of £40,000 handed out to 26 good causes across 16 counties.
In the West Midlands, £500 was handed to the Himaya Have, which is aimed at working with black, Asian and minority ethnic communities to support families of loved ones in custody and prison.
A total of £2,750 will be used by The Job Marston Centre, in Hall Green, to buy six new laptops and other equipment that will support a project that aims to provide people with all the skills and support they need to find a job – from setting up an email account to writing a CV.
Andrea Parker, Community Co-ordinator for the centre, said: “We are determined to expand our work to benefit those who need it most.”
Sustainability Matters in Stafford will use £830 to help publish a book of poetry created from works by budding adult poets to 100 youngsters who came up with their own haikus.
Beryl Metcalf, from the group, said: “The poems are from the 2018 and 2019 poetry competitions many of which were produced in school and drama workshops.”
Halesworth Kuk Sool Won martial arts will use £5,000 to pay for a new roof for its dojo. The site is 25 years old and it is hoped that the work will ensure it continues to serve its more than 1,000 members for a further two and a half decades.
Kevin Clouting, Chairman of Halesworth Kuk Sool Won committee, said: “The generosity of Central England Co-op has quite literally stunned and humbled us all.
“The donation is quite frankly breathtaking in its generosity and will allow us to carry out some major and much needed renovations.”
Leicester Transport Heritage Trust will use £1,000 to fund a special project to support people with dementia. The project would see the creation of special memory boxes in the shape of buses and packed full of memorabilia.
These would then be taken around hospitals, care homes and memory cafes to help people battling with dementia remember Leicester’s rich road transport heritage.
Mike Greenwood, Director of Archives and Research at the Leicester Transport Heritage Trust, said: “This is wonderful news. We are very grateful to the Central England Co-op Community Dividend Fund for their grant which will be really helpful in our quest to help improve the wellbeing of people living with Dementia in our local community.”
The fund has also supported local sports team, playgroups, village halls and a range of important charities and good causes.
Central England Co-operative Chief Executive Martyn Cheatle said: “We are delighted that these great projects and good causes have been handed a grant for the fantastic work they do in the community.
“Community Dividend Fund grants like this showcase how being a member and continuing to support Central England Co-op helps us as a Society continue to invest and fund vital projects in the local 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, which hands out grants of up to £5,000 to charities and good causes across the Society’s trading estate.
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: Members of groups celebrated being handed their grant from the Central England Co-operative Community Dividend Fund.
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 the Society’s principal areas of activity being food, funeral services, travel shops, and property investment.
Central England Co-operative has over 400 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 2018.
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 Dementia UK and invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities.
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, which hands out grants of up to £5,000 to charities and good causes across the Society’s trading estate.
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
For more information visit www.centralengland.coop, follow Central England Co-operative on Twitter: @mycoopfood, and on Facebook: facebook.com/centralenglandcooperative
Rob Smyth at Central England Co-operative on 01543 414140
Email –publicrelations@centralengland.coop