Published Friday, 21st February 2020
In its first six months of giving the Community Fund for Reigate and Banstead has awarded £14,000 in grants to seven local organisations.
The latest organisations to receive funding are Sight for Surrey, Princess Alice Hospice and Age Concern Merstham, Reigate and Redhill, who have each received between £1,500 and £2,500. Their projects include communication classes for the visually impaired in Redhill and a community allotment in Banstead.
Set up to tackle local need and disadvantage, the Fund is the 8th borough or district Area Fund within the county to be managed by the Community Foundation for Surrey. It was developed in partnership with Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, locally based businesses, such as Pfizer Ltd, Clockwise Marketing and Irwin Mitchell LLP, and other contributors from the local community, including local individuals, SES Water and RDO Kitchens and Appliances.
Cllr Rod Ashford, Executive Member for Community Partnerships, said: “The Fund is a simple and effective way to match the organisations making a real difference to local people’s lives with the residents and businesses who want to support them. I hope the Council’s offer to match-fund new donations up to (a total of) £10,000 until 31 March 2020 will encourage more people and organisations to give generously.”
Welcare, who provide family support services in East Surrey, received £2,000 in July 2019 that has enabled them to offer three new weekly groups for children who have either additional needs and disabilities, speech and language delay or English as an additional language. Anna Khan, Chief Executive Officer of Welcare Redhill, said “without this vital funding we would not be able to run these groups which are extremely valuable to local children and their families.”
Patron of the Community Fund for Reigate and Banstead, BBC Newsreader and Reigate resident Nicholas Owen, said: “I am honoured to be Patron and lend my support to this fantastic initiative, which is already benefitting local communities.”
If you want to support local projects in your community you can donate now or leave a legacy. The easiest way to donate is via the Fund’s Virgin Money Giving page.
If your local organisation or project needs funding to do more to support local people in need, then applying to the Fund is easy online - https://www.cfsurrey.org.uk/fund/rbf/. Applications for the next round need to be completed by 17 April 2020.