Most of our staff have been working remotely over the past six months but we have been providing support and funding to a wide variety of different organisations and individuals during this time.
We have provided over £12,000 in funding to individuals living within the Chippenham parish. These have been for a wide range of things including: – food vouchers, white goods (fridges/fridge-freezers/ovens), furniture, mobility scooters, school travel and meal costs, courses and classes.
We have also given over £75,000 in funding to lots of different organisations, all of which provide support and services to our local community. These organisations have included…
Alabaré Christian Care and Support – provide supported accommodation for those who are homeless, young people leaving the care system or who are vulnerably housed, adolescent parents and their children, unaccompanied asylum seek children , ex-Armed Forces personnel who have become homeless, and adults with learning disabilities. Our grant of £500 is towards face masks for frontline staff based in Chippenham. With their staff appropriately protected, they will be able to continue the important face-to-face support that their clients need.
Age UK Wiltshire – a local charity working in the community to support older people, their families and carers. They have set up a new Community Meals service providing meals to over 1,000 people in the local community. Our funding of £10,000 went towards the start-up cost for a delivery service in and around Chippenham.
Chippenham Foodbank – run by the Salvation Army, the Foodbank has had an increased demand for its service during the pandemic so far. We have funded them two grants in the last six months, totalling £8,400. This funding has gone towards the Foodbank food parcels and it’s provision of hot meals to Unity House.
Dorothy House – who provide compassionate care and support for people across Bath & North East Somerset and parts of Somerset and Wiltshire. Their focus is on ensuring that everyone has access to outstanding palliative and end of life care. Our grant of £15,000 is going towards establishing the new ‘Friends in Grief’ groups, a nurse led clinic service and on-going support for the hospice at home service.
Kandu Arts for Sustainable Development CIC – a community-based organisation working on the sustainable development agenda with individuals, groups, organisations, businesses and institutions to explore creative and sustainable solutions to society’s everyday challenges. Our grant of £1200 was given towards the costs of a freelancer to work with young people over the summer months.
Mencap is a UK Charity for people with a learning disability. We donated £400 towards transport costs for a day out to the beach for some of the Chippenham residents that they support.
Schools – We have recently awarded £21,906.63 to the local Chippenham schools in the form of a “Social Fund” – this money is allocated to each school to use towards uniform costs, trip subsidy and breakfast/after school clubs for low-income families in their school community.
We continue to provide opportunities for local Primary schools to apply for ring-fenced grant funding on a financial year basis and have recently awarded £1,326.40 to Charter Primary School from their funding allocation for a set of 280 books which will broaden and enrich the children’s learning and love of reading.
We are also having discussions about providing additional mental health and wellbeing support provision with our local secondary schools.
Shield Wiltshire are a group of volunteers who formed to help the Wiltshire community by manufacturing and giving free face visors to members of the public for their personal use during lockdown. They produced over 20,000 visors supporting a wide range of people and organisations. We donated £1000 worth of materials required by Shield Wiltshire to help them to continue to make and provide visors to the Chippenham community and beyond.
Splash (Community First) provide positive activities and youth worker support for young people who are facing challenges in their lives, providing fun opportunities where young people learn from each other and help and support one another. Splash raises aspirations, increases confidence & self esteem and empowers young people to realise their own capabilities & potential. Our grant of £4,849 was towards project costs and 80 activity places for 9-16 year olds from Chippenham who are facing challenges in their lives.
Springboard are a local charity who provide play group sessions for pre-school children from birth to 5 yrs with special needs, and support/information service for parents & carers. We agreed a change of use for part of a previous award to allow for £1800 to provide 6 full days of care for keyworker children, those with an EHCP and safeguarding need during the Easter holiday.
We Hear You provide emotional support (incl. free counselling) to patients, families, friends and carers who have been touched by cancer or any other life-threatening conditions across BANES, Somerset and Wiltshire. Our grant of £7600 will go towards an increased counselling provision for Chippenham people.
The Rise Trust provides a range of services to help children and their families in Chippenham and North Wiltshire. We awarded a grant of £1200 towards providing 4 weeks of street-based Youth worker support for young people in Chippenham during the summer holidays.
Wiltshire Citizens Advice are a local charity committed to helping people successfully deal with life’s problems. They provide free, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. Our grant of £14,590 was for an additional paid advisor in Chippenham to work with volunteers, meaning the charity will be able to provide more support for Covid-19 recovery.
Wiltshire Sight provides emotional and practical support to help people adjust to living with sight loss, equipping people with the tools they need to continue to live their lives independently and reach their full potential. Our grant of £2,000 will go towards providing support to blind and partially sighted clients living in Chippenham.
YMCA Redland Nursery are based in Chippenham. We awarded a grant of £1,000 towards developing their room for 2-3 year olds, providing resources including construction and small world toys.
Are you, or someone you know, struggling? Do you run or work for an organisation that provides support or services to Chippenham that is in need of funding or support?
Perhaps we can help? We are a grant giving charity here to support the people of Chippenham. We provide a confidential, friendly and approachable service. Get in touch if you think we might be able to help by calling 01249 658180 or emailing admin@cblc.org.uk.
