Monday, September 16, 2024 Community groups across Sussex, Surrey, and Kent were thrilled as London Gatwick revealed the beneficiaries of nearly £100,000 in funding from the second round of its 2024 London Gatwick Foundation Fund. Eighteen groups from across the region received financial support, which they will use to cover staffing expenses, essential operations, or to introduce new services. In Kent, several local initiatives benefited from this funding.
Life and Soul Youth Work in Tunbridge Wells secured £6,000 to assist with its annual operational costs. St Philip’s Church Community Larder, also in Tunbridge Wells, was awarded £5,000 to help fund its food larder, while Compaid Trust received £4,000 to support its yearly running expenses. Sarah Finch, CEO, Life and Soul said: “We are so grateful to the London Gatwick Foundation Fund for its generous grant towards the work of Life & Soul.
Demand for our services is increasing rapidly and this money will go a long way towards enabling us to train and deploy new volunteer mentors and to provide mentoring for young people in more schools.” Restore Counselling Training and Related Services in Tunbridge Wells received £2,500 to help cover supervision costs for counsellors. Therapeutic Equine Assisted Learning CIC, operating in Edenbridge and Sevenoaks, secured a £5,000 donation to support its yearly operational expenses.
Toc H High Brooms will use £5,000 to assist low-income families from its village hub, while Tonbridge Counselling Service was granted £2,500 to fund an assisted places program. In Surrey, the Amber Foundation was awarded £7,000 to provide mental health support for vulnerable young adults facing homelessness. St Mark’s Church in Tattenham Corner will utilize its £7,000 to hire a children and family worker for East Surrey’s deprived areas.
YMCA East Surrey received nearly £6,700 to offer inclusive exercise programs for people with disabilities. Home-Start Epsom, Ewell & Banstead (HSEEB) plans to allocate its £3,500 grant towards covering part of its 2024 core costs, while mental health charity Mind of the Student was granted £3,000 to fund workshops in Surrey’s secondary schools, reaching an additional 2,000 young people. The Be Me Project received £2,320 to support mental health groups in Surrey’s schools.
In Sussex, food poverty charity Free Shop Crawley was awarded £7,640 to cover its essential expenses. The Park Centre in Burgess Hill benefited from nearly £9,900 to fund the salary of a community development officer as they work on transforming a historic building into a multi-use community hub. Befriended will use £5,000 to hire an operational leader to combat loneliness and isolation among older adults in Mid-Sussex.
Hope into Action: Mid Sussex secured £5,000 to cover staff costs as they continue offering high-quality supported housing for homeless individuals, families, and refugees. Mid-Sussex Older People’s Council will utilize £2,500 to organize free community events. Melanie Wrightson, Stakeholder Engagement Manager at London Gatwick, said: “We love making a difference to our local community through the London Gatwick Foundation Fund, which has helped hundreds of good causes over the years.
“We can’t wait to hear updates from the charities and community projects we have supported this year about their completed projects. “We encourage all community groups and charities to apply for the next round of funding to enable us to lend a helping hand.” Established in 2016, the London Gatwick Foundation Fund provides financial support to local groups that work to combat social isolation, address disadvantage, enhance skills and aspirations, improve health and wellbeing, and assist children and young people.
Each year, the fund distributes £300,000 through three grant rounds. These grants benefit communities across Sussex, including Crawley, Horsham, Mid Sussex, and Wealden, as well as in Surrey’s Reigate and Banstead, Tandridge, and Mole Valley, and in Kent’s Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells, and Sevenoaks. The fund is administered by individual Community Foundations in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, on behalf of London Gatwick.
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