FUNDING has been provided to a number of community projects across the Malvern Hills to support the ongoing response to the Covid-19 crisis.
In July, Malvern Hills District Council launched the project in partnership with crowdfunding platform Spacehive.
People Make Places Fund offered people a way to raise funds by connecting them with local causes.
A pot of £25,000 was made available to support 50 per cent of the cost of projects, up to £5,000.
Six projects were successful in reaching their crowdfunding targets and received a total of £15,200 from the council, as well as donations from 172 backers, including communities, local businesses and foundations.
The remaining amount from the council pot will be linked in with Worcestershire County Council’s fund which is called Crowdfund Worcestershire.
Here are the successful projects:
Community Action Malvern raised £10,666 for its project to combat social isolation in Malvern and support the vulnerable in the community. This will be done through welfare calls, shopping and transports to hospital appointments.
Tenbury Food Bank raised £5,450 for its project to continue to provide food parcels and delivery services to those who don’t have transport or are self isolating. They also run a ‘food share’ each week where they share donated and bought fresh produce.
Upton Baptist Church raised £5,215 for their ‘Love Your Neighbour’ project which aims to continue their volunteer service to help the most vulnerable people in the community.
Age UK raised £4,562 for its ‘Reaching Across the Malvern Hills’ project which will aim to recruit and train volunteers to become the friendly voice on the telephone, or a supportive visitor, for people who are still locked inside due to coronavirus.
The DAWN Project raised £10,834 to offer individual, face-to-face support sessions for women who have experienced or are experiencing domestic abuse.
Suckley Good Neighbour Scheme raised £499 to help Suckley residents to be better connected by teaching vulnerable and socially isolated people IT skills and how to keep digitally connected.
Coun Sarah Rouse, Leader of Malvern Hills District Council, said: “We are really proud that here at MHDC we are thinking differently and using innovative new ideas such as Spacehive.
“It allows us to bring together our communities, businesses and the council around projects we all value.”
The next round of funding is the People Make Places – Ticket to Ride Fund which aims to support innovative and sustainable community transport projects across the district.
The council has made pot of £150,000 available over the next three years (across six rounds of funding) to support these schemes.
The maximum amount pledged to a project will be £50,000 or 50 per cent of the total project costs.
A number of organisations have pitched their projects to Spacehive for this round and will move on to the crowdfunding stage.
Visit www.spacehive.com/movement/worcs for more information.
