Community groups in Sussex, Surrey and Kent were jumping for joy this week as London Gatwick announced the recipients of nearly £100,000 of funding from the second round of the London Gatwick Foundation Fund of 2024.
A total of 18 groups across the region benefitted from a financial boost, which they will use to pay for staff and core costs or to launch new services.
In Kent, the good causes that received funding were Life and Soul Youth Work in Tunbridge Wells, which secured £6,000 to put towards its annual core costs; St Philip’s Church Community Larder in Tunbridge Wells, which was given a £5,000 donation towards the cost of its food larder; and Compaid Trust in Tunbridge Wells, which received £4,000 towards its annual core costs.
Sarah Finch, CEO of 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 benefitted from £2,500, which will help pay for the supervision costs of counsellors; Therapeutic Equine Assisted Learning CIC in Edenbridge and Sevenoaks was given a £5,000 donation towards its annual core costs; Toc H High Brooms will use £5,000 to provide support for low-income families from its hub in the village; and Tonbridge Counselling Service received £2,500 for funding an assisted places scheme.
Meanwhile, in Surrey, Amber Foundation will put £7,000 of funding towards providing mental health support to vulnerable young adults experiencing homelessness; St Mark’s Church, Tattenham Corner, will spend its £7,000 of funding on providing a children and family worker to serve deprived areas of East Surrey; and YMCA East Surrey received nearly £6,700 to provide inclusive exercise opportunities to people in East Surrey with disabilities.
Home-Start Epsom, Ewell & Banstead (HSEEB) will use its £3,500 of funding to pay for some of its 2024 core costs; and mental health charity Mind of the Student has received £3,000, which it will use to provide workshops in secondary schools in Surrey, allowing it to reach 2,000 more young people in the county. Be Me Project, which delivers school and community courses, was given £2,320 to provide mental health support groups in schools in Surrey.
In Sussex, food poverty charity Free Shop Crawley received £7,640 to put towards its core costs; Park Centre in Burgess Hill benefitted from nearly £9,900 to pay for the staff costs of a community development officer as it puts together an exciting plan to transform an historic building into a multi-use centre for the community; and Befriended will use £5,000 of funding to pay for the role of an operational leader, as it works to end loneliness and isolation amongst older people living in Mid-Sussex.
Hope into Action: Mid Sussex will spend £5,000 on staff costs as it continues to deliver high-quality supported accommodation for men, women, families and refugees who have been homeless and Mid-Sussex Older People’s Council will use £2,500 of funding to hold 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.”
