Following on from the Diocese of Norwich Filling the Gap project during 2020 and the early part of 2021, some of the churches we worked with have been able to continue supporting local families with food provision during school holidays as identified by their local school. We were delighted to hear from Jayne Windsor in the Sandringham Group of Parishes about the support they have continued to provide to families from Sandringham and West Newton Church of England Primary Academy.
Jayne writes: “Thank you for sending us the information and contact details for the Norfolk Community Foundation. We followed up with them and we are delighted to say that we have been able to provide £50 shopping vouchers for the families in our area that we try to support. The process to claim the vouchers was very easy and remarkably quick. These vouchers will make a big difference to our families’ Christmas. In addition to the vouchers we used some Church funds to make up hampers of Christmas treats for each family – I’m attaching a photo of the hampers so that you can see how cheerful they look!”
This kind and generous outreach has been really valued by families and provides an opportunity for churches to serve the needs within their local communities.
The funding Jayne refers to is the Norfolk Household Support Fund being offered by the Norfolk Community Foundation.
This has been set up to enable voluntary, community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations to deliver vital food aid to the people they support who are facing particular challenges. Grants are payable with a maximum value of £50 per household you wish to help with food costs. This can then be passed on to the household as an onward payment through options such as gift cards, hot meals or purchase of food provisions.
A second round of applications opens on Tuesday 4 January 2022 (closing 12noon on Thursday 31 March 2022) which could help with support for February half term and/or the Easter holiday.
As Jayne mentioned, the application process is very simple and Norfolk Community Foundation would be pleased to help anyone with any queries to enable the money to be distributed. So, if some extra funding would be helpful to the work you are doing in your community, then please do apply from January. Visit the Norfolk Community Foundation website or contact Norfolk Community Foundation on 01603 623958.