Huntingdonshire District Council has announced the latest organisations and projects that have been successful in their applications for Community Chest Grant funding, to be used to support the work and initiatives they are rolling out for communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Twenty two community groups have been awarded grant funding from the district council, money that will be used for initiatives such as paying towards staff cover, replenishing stocks of PPE, improving stocks used for food parcels, providing hot meals for vulnerable people and purchasing supermarket vouchers for those in need.
The district council holds weekly meetings to determine each application, responding within 7 days of the application date. The Community Chest fund has been expanded to £50,000 and repurposed to offer small community projects and support organisations the opportunity to bid for funding that will help them continue to support their local communities during the pandemic response period. The successful applicants so far, have been:
- Great Paxton Community Village Shop - £984
- Brampton Community Support Network - £1,000
- Godmanchester Community Timebank - £1,000
- Hemingford Hub Good Neighbour Scheme - £900
- Huntingdon Community Group - £1,000
- Warboys Unites - £1,000
- Chorus Homes - £1,000
- Rural Cambs Cab - £1,000
- Ramsey Nh Trust - £954
- Caresco - £1,000
- Young Peoples’ Counselling Service - £1,000
- The Fenland Trust - £1,000
- Pinpoint - £1,000
- Little Miracles – St Neots Branch - £1,000
- Houghton & Wyton Timebank - £1,000
- Holywell-Cum-Needingworth Parish Council - £818
- St Ives Foodbank - £500
- Sawtry Village Academy - £250
- Grafham Community Shop - £1000
- Bury Parish Council - £500
- Kick - £1,000
- The Norris Museum - £500
Total £19,406
Executive Leader of the council, Councillor Ryan Fuller, said: "We have now awarded funding to 22 local community groups or projects to help support their efforts to provide valuable assistance in their local areas in response to COVID-19. There is still a large amount of the Community Chest fund remaining, and we will keep the application process open so that we can continue to do whatever we can to support local initiatives."
Sarah Conboy, CEO of Pinpoint, said: "We were really delighted to receive the Community Chest Grant. We’ve all found the challenge of a pandemic difficult but for our parent carers whose children have special needs and disabilities, it’s been a really difficult and worrying time. Their children are at home and most are having to cope without the usual support or respite care. For us as a small charity, it’s been an extraordinarily tough challenge to move all our face-to-face support online and offer it through virtual meetings and webinars! This financial help means we can focus on our parent carers and making sure they have what they need to get and their children safely through this pandemic."
Jude Hall, from the Great Paxton Community Village Shop, said: "Great Paxton Community Shop is immensely grateful to HDC for the £1,000 Community Chest grant. COVID-19 has brought many challenges for the shop volunteers and manager. With many of our usual volunteers unable to help we had to reduce the hours we could open. We also started a delivery service for villagers in isolation, a 'click and collect' for others and had to keep stocked with things in demand. The grant has given us the confidence that our overheads will be covered if our income is reduced and we can continue to serve the village with basic food requirements and act as a central point of contact for all manner of other issues."
If you would like to apply for funding from the Community Chest, you should complete the online application form. Applications will be considered by councillors on a weekly basis. Therefore you can expect to receive a decision on whether your application has been successful no more than 7 days after submitting it.