Lloyds Bank Foundation are delighted to announce new funding for small and local charities helping people overcome complex social issues and recover beyond the immediate COVID-19 crisis.

Charities can apply for a two-year unrestricted grant of £50,000 from Monday 3 August at 10am.

To find out more about the COVID Recovery Fund visit: https://www.lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk/about-us/covid#Recover

The COVID Recovery Fund will offer 140 charities a two-year unrestricted grant of £50,000 alongside the support of a Development Partner to help charities identify and act on any organisational challenges they are facing.

To ensure this funding is distributed equitably, a minimum of 25% of the grants will be awarded to charities led by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities. Eligibility criteria will also be flexed for charities operating in Wales and those based in the six communities they are partnered with.

Full eligibility guidelines will be published this week and there will be a Q&A webinar with the Lloyds Bank Foundation grants team to talk through and answer questions about the fund on 11^th August between 2 pm – 3.30 pm. Click HERE to book your place.

Visit the Lloyds Bank Foundation website to stay up to date.

As a result of the Coronavirus outbreak, it is predicted that more children than ever could go hungry across the UK this year. Demand for food support is expected to increase by around 40% according to FareShare UK, the UK’s largest food charity, as more families face severe financial pressures because of the pandemic. 

Statistics from Derbyshire County Council indicate that applications for free school meals increased by over 600% between March and May, compared to the same time in 2019, demonstrating that many living in the county are experiencing these pressures first-hand.

Thanks to a recent campaign from footballer Marcus Rashford, the free school meals vouchers continue to be available over the summer holidays – but many families will still struggle with food insecurity this year.

Matlock based charity, Rural Action Derbyshire, heads up the Feeding Derbyshire partnership which works with a number of voluntary and public sector bodies to support food projects around the county.

Feeding Derbyshire has secured funding from Feeding Britain for School Holiday Food Projects and FareShare Midlands who have received support from Central England Co-operative to provide food to 18 different clubs around Derbyshire this summer.

The Summer Holiday food offer will deliver up to four days’ worth of supplies each week to every child registered with participating clubs over the six week summer holiday period.

Packages include staples such as breakfast cereal, pasta, rice, tinned goods, fruit, and healthy snacks, allowing families to take food away and make meals at home. There will also be the option for chilled foods, allowing clubs to make meals in bulk, as Feeding Derbyshire attempt to accommodate the food requirements of all of those in need.

The project aims to reach at least 1,400 disadvantaged children across Derbyshire, providing over 100,000 meals and 85,000 pieces of fruit over the summer holidays.

These packages are being delivered in reusable bags which can be returned, helping to promote a culture of recycling and refilling.

Feeding Derbyshire has also provided a cash grant enabling clubs to purchase additional items for children, including toiletries, sanitary items and craft materials. Groups will also have access to virtual activity bundles to keep kids entertained while schools remain closed.

By providing healthy, balanced food packages to children during the break, the Summer Holiday Food Project will boost Feeding Derbyshire’s ambition of ensuring the most vulnerable people have access to nutritious meals.

This is just one of many crucial programmes organised by Rural Action Derbyshire, which creates and champions sustainable solutions to tackling food insecurity and rural poverty, and works with 28 food banks and 22 community cafes across the county.

Over the last two months alone, this work has helped Derbyshire food projects to double the amount of food provided to local people.

Funding shortfall – can you help?

However, facing a potentially overwhelming demand for food, Feeding Derbyshire may lack the necessary funds to continue providing these essential services for vulnerable people.

It is estimated that it will cost upwards of £88,000 to continue to support children and families over the next academic year – although this figure could rise if the free school meal voucher scheme is withdrawn after the summer.

This would create a cash shortfall between October half term and Easter meaning that children would go hungry as families struggle to cope during the school holidays.

If you would like to help support this vital work, please support Rural Action Derbyshire’s fundraising campaign via their website: https://www.ruralactionderbyshire.org.uk/Appeal/school-holiday-clubs-2020 and share it via  your social media channels.

The Masonic Charitable Foundation Later Life Inclusion grants programme is open to local and national charities that are working to reduce loneliness and isolation in later life.
Charities can apply for a small or large grant, depending on their income.
Grants are available for core costs.

There are two scales – small grants from £500 to £15,000 and large grants up to £60,000.

Click here for more information

Borderline Arts focuses specifically on Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). They use arts and creativity to raise awareness of this often misunderstood mental health conditionn and to tackle the stigma that surrounds it.

They have launched a postcard project and would like to invite anyone with Borderline Personality Disorder (anywhere in the world!) to join in with this new venture!

They are asking for participants to send them postcard-sized (150 mm x 105 mm, landscape) pieces of art created in any medium: pencil, paint, collage, photography etc. The artwork can be of anything at all, as long as it is a positive or neutral image, which is suitable to give as a ‘thank you’ gift!!

These postcards will be used in 2 ways:
Digital Montage: Photographs of these postcards will be compiled together as a digital wall montage on the Borderline Arts website, to showcase the artwork, promote you as artists and hopefully inspire others to also get involved!

Thank You Cards: Borderline Arts will use the physical copies of the postcards as thank you cards to give to those who support Borderline Arts. They hope that receiving a message written on a one-of-a-kind postcard created by someone with BPD will be really special for them to receive (and hopefully it will be special for you to have been part of that too!).

Visit https://www.borderlinearts.org/postcardproject to find out to take part.

Borderline Arts have lots of other exciting projects for Spring/Summer 2020, you can find out more HERE.

Tesco Bags of Help has responded to the current COVID-19 crisis by setting up a new fund to support local communities. In order respond quickly to the emergency they have created a streamlined application and payment process to make it easier to get funds out quickly.

If your application is successful the fund will provide a single payment award of £500 to organisations who are supporting vulnerable groups. The programme is set up to support organisational need in this time of crisis rather than fund specific projects with the situation of the Coronavirus.

Link to apply: https://tescobagsofhelp.org.uk/tesco-cv-fund/

For any queries please contact: tescocv@groundwork.org.uk

Interested in your wellbeing? Then join us for our weekly wellbeing sessions and start your wellbeing journey today.

Are you a patient, a carer, are you bereaved? Has life changed, leaving you feeling demotivated, isolated or struggling to cope? Are you someone looking for new ways to achieve a healthy balance in your life? Then our Virtual Wellbeing Programme may be for you.

If you would like relaxed conversation over a virtual cuppa and to meet others in similar situations, then please join us and kickstart your wellbeing journey. We would love to see you.

The virtual programme will run every Tuesday from 2.00pm – 3.00pm starting the 21st July 2020 

For more information or to register for the Wellbeing Programme, please e-mail: Jo Gregory, Counsellor & Support Worker, at: joanne.gregory@ashgatehospicecare.org.uk.

The Wellbeing Programme is a virtual weekly meeting held on Zoom. Members will receive weekly zoom link invitations via e-mail to join the Wellbeing meetings.

Shelagh’s Sewing Circle is a group of 150+ volunteers based in Dronfield/S.Sheffield area who are currently making & distributing free face masks to a wide range of health, voluntary & charity organisation.

Our initial priorities have been surgeries, care homes & health professionals, but as capacity grew, we broadened out to nurseries & other priority key workers, like charities in contact with vulnerable groups & 3rd sector organisations needing to supplement their PPE. 

As of last night we have made and distributed nearly 30.000 masks, mostly to the Dronfield, South Sheffield, Chesterfield, S.Yorkshire & NE Derbyshire areas, but word of mouth, appearances on local radio & TV (Look North & Calender News) & support from Patrick Grant of Sewing Bee has resulted in orders from wider care homes & key workers across the country, including London, Norwich, Liverpool & Scotland!! 

The masks are completely free and are being made from donated goods. They were originally produced in consultation with local health professionals and are washable for cleansing, although steaming with a hot iron can sterilises them between contacts.

 You can find more information by looking at our website Shelaghssewingcircle.org.uk. People who are interested in getting some of these free masks can order them via this website.

Tell us about your experience of the last few extraordinary months, and what support you need – and win a £25 supermarket voucher!

Closing date 31 July 2020

We want to hear community groups, voluntary organisations, charities and social enterprises of all kinds and all sizes, from all parts of Derby City and Derbyshire.

This includes established organisations (whether or not you have been able to provide services during the lockdown), as well as new informal mutual aid / neighbourhood groups; and faith organisations, parish councils and food banks responding to the crisis.

All completed surveys will be entered into a draw to win 1 of 3 x £25 supermarket vouchers!

We want to find out, capture and share:

• All the good work that you have been doing to make sure that people affected by COVID, especially the most vulnerable, have been supported.
• What you have learned and experienced
• What the impact has been on your organisation
• Crucially, we also want to know what support and resources you will need in future, so that we can make sure that you get this

The survey should take about 20 minutes, and will ask questions about:

• Your organisation (what you do, where you work, who you support and your annual income)
• What you have been doing (if anything) to support people during COVID (including the kinds of support you have provided, the numbers of people you have helped and the number of volunteers who have been involved).
• The impact of COVID on your organisation, including your income, staff (if any), volunteer numbers, levels of demand, needs and geographical differences.
• Your experience of COVID – what the challenges have been, what you have learned – and what support you will need going forward.

Click here to start the survey https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3D2020

This survey is being carried out by the 3D (Third Sector Support for Derbyshire) network of local CVS, Volunteer Centres and other local voluntary sector support organisations working in partnership with public sector colleagues.

If you have any questions, or if would rather complete the survey on paper or as a Word document, or if you need someone to help you fill it in please email 3derbyshire@gmail.com