A total of fourteen community organisations in Notts are to share £90,000 in funding to improve residents’ access to affordable and healthy food – and three of the successful recipients are from Gedling borough.
The Core Centre, Calverton will receive £6,830 – the centre runs a food redistribution scheme to help prevent food waste as well as supplement residents’ weekly shop. Funding will be used towards food stock, equipment, and volunteer expenses/training as part of a wider drive to increase the number of food boxes it provides from 25 to 100 per week.
Bethesda Ministries, Netherfield will receive £1,420 – the money will be used to source nutritious low-cost food as part of a wider plan to include a food redistribution scheme and extend opening hours within its existing foodbank.
Hope Nottingham CIO, Carlton will receive £8,460 – to establish a food redistribution scheme in Carlton with access to wide ranging advice and support. The project aims to reach 300 residents in the year. Funding will be used towards set-up costs of the club including equipment, rent, and worker costs.
They will receive the money from Nottinghamshire County Council’s newly launched Food Redistribution Grant Scheme to enable them to set up or extend schemes to help families and households access affordable, good quality and nutritious food.
The money is the first round of funding as part of a three-year scheme, which is being delivered through the County Council’s Local Communities Fund (LCF).
Two further rounds are planned, with £65,000 to be shared among organisations in the second year (2024/25) and £55,000 made available in 2025/26.
The new support package forms part of the County Council’s continued commitment to support vulnerable residents, ease the financial worries for families facing cost-of-living pressures and develop healthy and sustainable places.
Mark Walker, the County Council’s Interim Service Director for Place and Communities, said: “Nottinghamshire’s community and voluntary sector plays a crucial role in providing a lifeline to some of the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach residents and is well placed to deliver food redistribution schemes in their local area.
“We are acutely aware that low-income families and households across Nottinghamshire continue to experience challenges associated with cost-of-living pressures.
“Therefore, the new Food Redistribution Grant will mean more people will receive extra support to access affordable and nutritious food.
“The scheme will also enable community organisations to work with those people who need help the most and this package of funding reaffirms our ongoing drive to reduce health inequalities across the county.
“The quality of the applications we received was excellent and I would like to thank everyone involved in the process for their support as we’ve rolled out this new grant scheme.”
