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Food bank run becomes a regular event

Food bank trustee Elaine with some of the goods donated by the Inner Wheel Club of Wrington Vale

MEMBERS of the Inner Wheel Club of Wrington Vale have begun monthly deliveries of supplies to Cheddar Food Bank.

On the latest visit, the club handed over three bags of tinned food, two boxes of dried goods and a bag each of toiletries and household cleaning materials with a total weight of 40kgs.

The food bank has extended its distribution area, taking in villages including Sandford and Winscombe.

Baby hats

A TOTAl of 51 hats in an array of colours and designs have been delivered to Southmead Hospital thanks to members of Bishop Sutton & Stowey’s WI group, who have been making them in their Knit and Natter group. The baby hats are made for neonatal hospital units.

Award for community foundation

SOMERSET Community Foundation has been awarded a High Sheriff’s Special Recognition Award, which cites their “outstanding work to the community in Somerset and for their acts of thoughtfulness and kindness during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020”.

The foundation launched the Somerset Coronavirus Appeal on March 19th, 2020, just a few days before the first national lockdown was announced.

The award was presented on the anniversary of the first emergency Somerset Coronavirus Response grants, which were approved for payment less than a week after the appeal was launched last year.

These first grants were made to food banks across the county and in those first few weeks of lockdown SCF continued making emergency grants to frontline charities across the county, every day.

Justin Sargent, chief executive at SCF said: “We’re truly delighted to have received this Special Recognition Award from the High Sheriff of Somerset. Our grateful thanks go to our local charities on the frontline, who have worked tirelessly to ensure our vulnerable neighbours across Somerset have been cared for and supported through these most difficult of times.

“We’re also incredibly grateful to all the donors who have supported the Somerset Coronavirus Appeal so generously in the last year. Thanks to the £1.5m of flexible funding we’ve received from individuals, businesses, charitable trusts and public sector partners, and a year after we made our first grant, we’ve awarded almost £1.2m of grants to date, to over 370 charities, with more funding being awarded in the weeks and months to come to help local charities recover from the impacts of the pandemic.”

High Sheriff, Mary-Clare Rodwell, said: “To recognise this particularly challenging and unusual year, I have made High Sheriff’s Special Recognition Awards for exceptional acts of compassion and outstanding contributions to the welfare of the community. SCF supports charities and voluntary organisations.

“Their swift and nimble actions in response to this pandemic showed a resolve and determination over and above what would be expected of them. With impromptu groups forming in towns and villages across the county, SCF provided them with the funds to address the different needs of their individual communities. Their work was, and is, vital to our communities, and I thank them.”

As life slowly returns to normal, it’s feared that charities will face a funding crisis following 2020, and SCF is standing by to make sure essential charitable services are not lost.