£18,000 WINDFALL FOR SEVEN NORTH NORFOLK COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS
Seven community groups across north Norfolk are celebrating a combined £18,166 windfall, following the latest round of grants from the Victory Housing Community Fund.
A foodbank, a village hall, a group which supports women affected by sexual exploitation and a bowls and snooker club are among the organisations sharing grants ranging from £800 to £5,000 – bringing the total handed out by the Fund to £405,549 across 148 grants since it was established in 2008.
The latest round of grants were awarded by a panel of Victory residents, advised by the grants team at Norfolk Community Foundation, which administers the Victory Housing Community Fund.
The organisations receiving support were:
- Age UK Norfolk, which received £5,000 to contribute to the costs of the Dementia Friendly Communities work in North Norfolk
- Cromer and District Foodbank, which received £5,000 to support the cost of two part-time employees
- The Magdalene Group Norfolk, which received £2,366 to help equip a house to provide a supported home for female care leavers affected by sexual exploitation
- Felmingham Village Hall, which received £2,000 to contribute towards the costs of a range of repairs to the village hall
- Neatishead Parish Council, which received £2,000 to fund the purchase of play equipment
- Latched On in Holt, which received £1,000 to support the costs of new breast feeding cafe/clinic in the town
- North Walsham Bowls & Snooker Club, which received £800 to replace chairs
“Once again we are delighted to be giving out grants to some of the most deserving and hard-working voluntary groups,” said Victory Housing Trust chief executive John Archibald. “Our grants panel has allocated funds to a variety of organisations doing different things, but which all have in common the fact that they are contributing so much to our communities.”
Full details of the Victory Housing Community Fund can be found at www.norfolkfoundation.com.
Case Study: Cromer and District Foodbank
After distributing over 30 tonnes of food to people in crisis last year through its network of distribution centres in Cromer, North Walsham, Aylsham, Sheringham and Holt, demand for help from Cromer and District foodbank is as urgent as ever.
During that period the organisation gave emergency three-day food supplies to 2,858 people, of which over 1,000 were children, across an area stretching some 200 square miles in north Norfolk.
Christmas is the peak period for demand – so the £5,000 grant from the Victory Housing Community Fund has arrived at an opportune moment. The money will help support the cost of the Foodbank’s two part-time project managers, who with the help of over 100 volunteers keep the organisation running.
“The number of people seeking our help has grown by 15 per cent in 2017,” said Cromer and District Foodbank Chair Pete Wenham. “Over 30 per cent of those we help are children, so the need for our services is as great as ever.
“Around 40 per cent of the money needed to keep the organisation going comes from individual fundraising, for which we are very grateful. The rest comes from grants such as this one from Victory Housing Trust, so this kind of funding is vital to allow us to do our work.”
Foodbank vouchers are given to people in crisis by frontline care professionals such as doctors and social workers – the vouchers can be exchanged for three-day food supplies at the Foodbank. Frontline Victory Housing Trust staff are among those who can allocate vouchers – so the two organisations are already working closely.
Donations of food and money are always welcome; more details can be found at www.cromerdistrict.foodbank.org.uk.