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Rainbow Services Helping Charities Thrive In Harlow
22nd September 2025
For more than two decades, Rainbow Services has been a lifeline in Harlow – championing people, supporting charities, and driving change to tackle disadvantage, deprivation, and social exclusion.
Since 1999, the charity has delivered imaginative projects that bring people together, create opportunities, and strengthen the town’s sense of community. Along the way, Rainbow Services has received nearly £400,000 in grants from Essex Community Foundation (ECF), funding that has played a vital role in helping the charity thrive and grow.
Sharon Summerfield, CEO at Rainbow Services, said: “The support we have received from Essex Community Foundation has enabled us to keep expanding our mission to alleviate poverty, disadvantage, and social exclusion, ensuring that no one in Harlow is left behind. Their funding has helped us adapt to new challenges while continuing to deliver projects that bring real and lasting change to our community.”
ECF’s partnership with Rainbow Services has enabled the charity to deliver life-changing projects, including:
- £5,360 to extend a recycling workshop for young people at risk of exclusion from school.
- £4,158 to purchase new machinery and equipment for a recycling workshop
- £9,580 to continue running the Rainbow Family Contact Centre, which helps separated families maintain positive relationships with their children.
Rainbow Services’ reach is wide and varied, touching the lives of residents of all ages. Their projects include:
The Community Builder Project – reducing isolation by supporting older residents to create social clubs, enjoy day trips, and access health and wellbeing services.
The Community Hub – a partnership with Citizens Advice Harlow and Harlow Foodbank, offering practical support for those in crisis alongside volunteering opportunities, energy advice, and health checks.
Support for Local Groups – free advice and guidance for not-for-profit organisations, helping small grassroots groups grow and established charities thrive.
Youth Project – re-engaging young people through hands-on carpentry training, accredited qualifications, and mentoring to inspire brighter futures
Our Health Matters – connecting residents to essential healthcare and empowering them to make positive changes to their lives.
Place Partnership Expansion – an exciting programme launched by Sport England to revitalise local communities through physical activity, movement and sport.
Frankie Webb-Huseyin ECF Grants Officer after a recent visit to Rainbow Services said “Rainbow Services is a clear example of good hyper-local support and service provision. They work collaboratively with other local organisations within Harlow and across West Essex to provide the services most needed by their community.”
As Rainbow Services looks to the future, its vision remains clear: to keep working for change in Harlow by building stronger connections, sharing resources, and finding better ways to support local people and organisations.
ECF announced as Birkett Long’s charity of the year
5th August 2021
Birkett Long has announced Essex Community Foundation (ECF) as its new charity of the year.
For the past two years, the firm’s charity of the year has been Essex & Herts Air Ambulance. Despite being in lockdown for over half this time, meaning fundraising opportunities were more limited, the firm is proud to have raised over £5,000.
Birkett Long staff have continued to take part in events such as a Christmas floristry workshop, monthly dress down days, buying items from the office tuckshops and taking time to complete surveys.
This year the firm will raise funds and work with ECF, the independent charitable trust, to identify charities in Basildon, Chelmsford and Colchester to give direct donations to. Each year the Foundation awards around £5 million in grants to charities and community organisations working in the county. These groups provide support at the grassroots of their communities helping people of all ages.
Victoria Fenner, from Birkett Long’s Events and Fundraising Committee, said: “We are delighted to announce our new charity of the year. We care for our clients, our communities and each other and we feel that Essex Community Foundation reflects our own values.”
The firm’s late Senior Partner, Christopher J Holmes, OBE DL, was involved with ECF as a Trustee between 2000 and 2009, and ECF also manages his charitable fund.
Perry Norton, Head of Development at ECF, said: “We are excited to work with the team at Birkett Long, introducing them to the smaller, local charities and voluntary organisations who carry out vital work in the communities near to their offices.
“We look forward to engaging their staff in this process and increasing their knowledge and awareness of the needs in these different areas.”
Helping to raise a smile
4th November 2020
Families struggling to cope with life-threatening or long-term illnesses have had smiles brought back into their lives through the unique work of an award-winning organisation.
Grant a Smile, a not-for-profit community enterprise, was set up five years ago by former teacher Joyce Obaseki, who lives in Loughton.
The organisation, which had the accolade of a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service last year, has been given a grant of £11,540 from Essex Community Foundation’s Coronavirus Response and Recovery Programme.
The funding has given Grant a Smile’s work a vital boost in its quest to help families in need.
Joyce launched the organisation after discovering that no support was available for children like one of her pupils, who came to school in a dirty uniform because his mother, who had cancer, was too ill to provide him with clean clothes. The boy was being bullied at school because of his unkempt appearance and Joyce became determined to give youngsters like him the help they need.
Grant a Smile gives free practical support for eligible families whose home life is affected by serious illness. The organisation also aims to grant special wishes for children and has set its sights on expanding its work to help vulnerable and elderly people.
“The help we give can be life-changing, particularly for children who have had to become young carers because they have a parent who is seriously ill,” said Joyce.
“We go into the home and help with all kinds of chores, including cleaning, washing, ironing and gardening. This sort of support has a magical effect, once the house is in order it allows families to have less stressful lives with more time together, without the worry of all the jobs that need to be done.
“We have given this type of valuable help to a Mum who has cancer. One of her three children, a 10-year-old girl, who had been lively and bright as a button, had become mute and was missing out on school. The house was deteriorating, and the Mum was struggling to cope.
“As well as giving practical support in the home, we help with life skills too. We worked closely with the family and one of our volunteers, a mental health specialist and a life coach, gave psychological support.
“The 10-year-old started talking again and her school attendance improved. She doesn’t feel alone anymore and knows that people understand what she is going through. Although her Mum’s health may not get any better, we have been able to teach her how to handle things and she is not overwhelmed anymore.
“We are very grateful for the grant from Essex Community Foundation. There are so many families who need the type of help we can provide which is impossible to find elsewhere.”
The Coronavirus pandemic has meant that Grant a Smile, which has 36 volunteers, has had to prioritise its work to help the families in greatest need. They have been distributing food parcels throughout the pandemic and report a significant rise in referrals.
Joyce and her team of volunteers are tackling the current challenges and the future, with the knowledge that they are making a huge difference to people’s lives and that their work is needed more than ever.
New charitable fund to keep hearts beating in Essex
16th October 2020
A new charitable fund with its heart firmly in Essex has been launched with a pledge to spend money raised in the county on cardiac services for the county.
Essex Heart Fund has been set up by two local consultant cardiologists, Dr Gerald Clesham and Dr Thomas Keeble, along with charity specialist Fred Heddell, to bring major improvements to the lives of Essex heart patients and their families.
The fund will be managed by the highly respected independent charitable trust, Essex Community Foundation. Money donated to the Essex Heart Fund will only be spent in Essex, on community services and support groups, on the development of new hospital-based clinical services and to support local cardiovascular education and research.
Dr Clesham, who works at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford and at the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre in Basildon, said: “We know that the people of Essex are already very generous in donating to heart charities, however, only a tiny fraction of the money donated to national heart charities finds its way back to Essex. Our aim in setting up the Essex Heart Fund is to raise charitable funds for cardiac care in Essex and ensure that the money is spent in Essex.
“The fund will help support groups for patients and their families in the community, will fund new clinical services and will promote cardiovascular research and teaching in local hospitals and the community.
“Heart conditions are still the commonest causes of premature death and are a major cause of disability. Cardiac services in Essex serve a population of about 1.8 million people and we are confident that channelling more money into local services will result in an improved outcome for heart patients.”
Dr Clesham, who has been a consultant in Essex for 20 years, is president of the Chelmsford and District Cardiac Support Group and sees at first-hand how patients can often feel unsupported after being discharged from hospital.
“Helping patients in the community is a very effective way of keeping people well and the Essex Heart Fund will help cardiac patient support groups develop in Essex,” he said.
The fund will also enable new clinical services to be launched in Essex hospitals and the aim is for the NHS to commission the services when they have proved to be a success.
Locally based cutting-edge research and teaching in hospitals and the community will be another major area supported by the fund.
The initiatives will not only benefit patients but will also help with recruitment and retention of hospital staff, said Dr Clesham.
He and Dr Keeble, who works at Southend Hospital and the Cardiothoracic Centre in Basildon, will be active in the Essex community to promote the fund and provide education about heart health.
“The Essex Heart Fund will have its own identity and we are pleased to be working with Essex Community Foundation as our umbrella organisation to provide all the relevant charity governance, which enables us to concentrate on the areas we want to support,” said Dr Clesham.
To find out more about the new Essex Heart Fund and to make a donation visit: www.essexheartfund.org.uk
DONATE TO ESSEX HEART FUND:
To donate £5, text ESSEXHF to 70970
To donate £10, text ESSEXHF to 70191