Twenty-four community groups and charities handed £42,000 funding boost thank to the Co-op
Posted by rob smyth | Published: 03/04/2019
Twenty-four projects are celebrating after sharing £42,000 in the latest payout from Central England Co-operative’s Community Dividend Fund.
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.
In Northamptonshire, Action for Asperger’s, based in Corby, has been awarded £4,050 to pay for the creation of special bags filled with sensory toys as part of its work offering specialist autism counselling for all ages.
The toys are used to relieve heightened emotional states and are for people aged from five up to 100 years old.
In Leicestershire, Farndon Fields Primary School, in Market Harborough, will use a maximum grant of £5,000 to completely transform its outdoor space. The work will see the creation of mud kitchens, den making areas, a sensory garden and an allotment for children to grow their own vegetables.
Burton and District Mind has been handed £2,600 to buy sofas, chairs and tables to revamp its group therapy room.
In the West Midlands, women, girls and disadvantaged groups will now be able to learn to train and work safely after not for profit social enterprise OLDP Community Interest were handed £2,800 to buy a scaffold tower.
Barbara Quarless, from the project, said: “The funding will help make a change in the lives of women and girls at grassroots level in some of the most disadvantaged areas of Birmingham.
“It will help us to offer support, training and equipment to women to start a career in the built environment where they are significantly underrepresented in the workforce.”
Droitwich Spa Meeting Centre has been awarded £2,500 for a new scheme aimed at helping people living with the illness bring back feelings, memories and abilities associated with their favourite tunes.
The grant will help pay for everything from MP3 players to earphones with the aim of making living with dementia easier and happier.
The fund has also supported local sports teamd, playgroups, village halls and a range of important charities and good causes.
Central England Co-operative Chief Executive Debbie Robinson 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 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.”
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