Grants help tackle pandemic impact in Braintree district
14th March 2022
Grants have been awarded to six Braintree-based charities to help hundreds of local people to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.
Parents who have struggled with loneliness, children who are anxious about returning to school and older people who have not been able to enjoy fun activities with others are among those who will benefit from the Braintree District and Eastlight Community Fund.
The fund, set up in 2015 by Braintree District Council and Eastlight Community Homes with Essex Community Foundation (ECF), has now awarded £1 million to local charities and causes.
The latest awards include £26,700 for Families in Focus, which provides advice and emotional support to Braintree families who have children with special educational needs or disabilities.
Families supported by the charity include those who have struggled with reduced income during the pandemic and many whose children have struggled to return to education because of increased anxiety.
Home Start Essex’s funding boost of £13,210 means 60 parents and carers in Braintree who are facing challenges with raising young children will attend weekly peer support sessions over the next two years.
While their children play, parents and carers, many of whom have struggled with isolation and loneliness during the pandemic, have the opportunity to connect with others while receiving support and enjoying well-being sessions.
The Wilderness Foundation’s Brave Futures programme, which will receive £38,400, offers group therapy out in nature to people of all ages who have experienced grief, trauma, addiction, isolation and other experiences which have affected their mental health.
A spokesperson from the charity said: “We are incredibly grateful to the Braintree District and Eastlight Community Fund for their support which will make a huge difference to so many vulnerable people who seek our support each year.”
The £15,000 grant awarded to Halstead Day Centre is a “tremendous boost” for residents aged 60 or over facing isolation, according to manager Veronica Harman. The grant will fund fun activities ranging from bingo games to music classes as well as morale-boosting trips to the centre’s beach hut in Brightlingsea.
A £26,841 grant will help Witham Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade turn 11 acres of forest near Twinstead into a space where children from across the region can discover the great outdoors. The funding will help make the area safe and accessible and allow the brigade to hire an education officer to put on activities such as “minibeast hunts” and building birdboxes.
Hearing Help Essex will receive £22,110 to help fund Hearing Help Sessions in the district, where trained volunteers clean and maintain NHS hearing aids while offering advice and support. Last year, the charity helped 597 of the 20,000 Braintree district residents with hearing difficulties and visited a further 67 homes to meet residents who could not travel to them.
James Green, Eastlight’s Community Investment Director, said: “Charities are doing brilliant work in Braintree district and it’s our privilege to support some inspiring organisations who are helping residents begin connecting again and recover from the impacts the pandemic has had on so many.”
Cllr Frankie Ricci, Cabinet Member for Communities at Braintree District Council, said: “The Braintree District and Eastlight Community Fund is a great example of partnership working and provides grants to wonderful causes throughout the district, helping to provide support to those who need it most as we work to recover from the disruption Covid has had to us all across the past two years. Along with our Councillor Community Grants, they are a great way of providing much needed funding to community groups and organisations.”
Caroline Taylor, chief executive of ECF, said: “There are so many smaller, local voluntary organisations that work in the heart of Braintree communities. By working with the decision-making panel for this Fund, we are able to give many of them the financial support they need so they can either continue their work or expand it”.
If your charitable project in Braintree District is in need of financial support, please call us on 01245 356018. You can see a selection of what we have funded previously here.
New grants help grassroots groups get connecting
3rd December 2021
A series of grants have been awarded to help groups and charities get active in the community again.
The awards by the Braintree District and Eastlight Community Fund, set up by Braintree District Council and Eastlight Community Homes with the independent charitable trust Essex Community Foundation (ECF), are for grassroots projects that make a big difference for people in the district.
They are being used to organise exciting trips for more than 60 scouts, pay for new tools at a community shed, hire space for a baby and toddler group and create a community garden.
Wethersfield Community Activities has been awarded £1,500 to fund three years of hall hires for its bumps, baby and toddler group. Donations can now be used to create extra events and buy more fun toys and activities.
Trustee Becky Wilson said the free sessions were often the only opportunity for parents in the village to meet up. She said: “It’s been incredible for the mental health of the mums. You can see the difference in the parents from when the first started to now.”
Cressing Temple Community Shed has used its grant of £1,932 to buy tools including screwdrivers, a saw and nail guns to replace ageing equipment.
The 25 members meet three times a week in a converted shed at the historic venue to build everything from planters and birdboxes to a sledge for Santa to use at a charity’s children’s Christmas party.
John Wilson, vice chair, said while the shed was open to all, many members were retired men who live alone following a bereavement.
He said: “We come along to get ourselves out of the house and have someone to talk to. You don’t have to make anything – if you just want to have a chat then you can.”
A grant of £600 will help the Earls Colne branch of Incredible Edible to create a community garden near the village’s town hall to be used by residents of Grammar School House residential home and, potentially, pupils from the village’s primary school.
Last year, the group began growing fruit and vegetables in a donated plot of land on the High Street and leaving them for anyone to pick up, cook and eat.
Jayne Meleschko said the group had already grown from six to 15 members and had been donated greenhouse space to grow more.
She said: “I’ve met an awful lot of people through it and because the garden’s right on the High Street we often spend more time talking to people going past than we do on gardening. That’s the joy of it.”
1st Silver End Scouts have been awarded £2,000 and will use it to for activity-packed trips for more than 60 youngsters to the Peak District, Bournemouth and Wales are affordable.
Phil Kilburn, assistant scout leader, said the youngsters had met up over Zoom during the pandemic but much preferred taking part in activities and seeing each other in person.
He added: “Now we’re back face to face, our numbers are booming again. Children really just want to get out, spend time with each other and get active.”
Isedale WA CIC have received £3,500 to run a mentoring and support programme for Black, Asian and minority ethnic teenagers.
James Green, Eastlight’s Community Investment Director, said: “Congratulations to all the wonderful community groups out there who are doing so much to support local people. It’s brilliant to see these grants being used to help people connect again after such a difficult couple of years.”
Cllr Frankie Ricci, Cabinet member for Communities at Braintree District Council, said: “It is great that this latest round of funding is helping our communities connect again and supporting projects that bring people together. It is an important tool in combating loneliness and improving emotional health and wellbeing.”
Andy Payne Worpole, Head of Programmes at ECF, said: “We are pleased to manage this Fund which provides such a great resource for grassroot charities and groups that need a smaller amount of funding to make a big difference in their communities.”
A panel of Eastlight Community Homes and Braintree District Council representatives are meeting again to consider the applications of eight further charities which have applied for grants of up to £40,000.
To find out how your business can set up a Fund to help your local community, click here.
To apply for a grant, visit our Apply for Support page.