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Leicestershire and Rutland Community Foundation delivers more than £500,000 in emergency grants

Leicestershire and Rutland Community Foundation delivers more than £500,000 in emergency grants

Leicestershire and Rutland Community Foundation (LLRCF) has delivered a staggering £552,719.50 in emergency grants to charities, voluntary groups and community organisations who are working tirelessly to support people most in need during the Coronavirus pandemic.

With grants of between £500 - £10,000 awarded to 131 local groups across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, the funds have given a much-needed boost to organisations who are delivering vital aid to vulnerable people within our communities.

Given through The Leicestershire and Rutland Coronavirus Support Fund, the grants have helped groups support local people via preparation and delivery of emergency food parcels for the elderly and those shielding; support for mental health and domestic violence issues as a result of the pandemic; providing supplies to foodbanks and advice for those in financial hardship, and ensuring that essential services can continue remotely.

One of the groups to benefit from the Coronvirus Support Fund is Shama Women’s Centre based in Leicester. The charity which provides support to women from all backgrounds and ethnicities, has used the grant of nearly £5,000 to ensure it can continue to provide its bereavement and domestic abuse counselling to vulnerable women remotely during the coronavirus crisis.

Khudeja Amer-Sharif, Chief Executive of Shama Women’s Centre, said: “With so many of our members coming from BAME communities and coronavirus having a disproportionate impact on these communities, it’s been absolutely essential that we can provide our helplines.

“We are offering a lifeline in communication and support to many people who would normally find it extremely difficult to ask for help. The small grant we received has made a huge difference to all the local women who have reached out to us.”

Katy Green, Leicestershire and Rutland Community Foundation CEO said: “We are so grateful to the National Emergencies Trust and our brilliant local donor families and companies, for enabling us to support so many “unsung, unseen” charitable groups, and the communities they serve. Quietly and inexpensively, they help people in need and together, they work to strengthen our local social and economic health and stability.”

The Leicestershire and Rutland Coronavirus Support Fund is made up of money from public donations to the National Emergencies Trust that is quickly being delivered by the Community Foundation to local groups, as well as generous donations from donor companies, individuals and the launch of two major funds; SEGRO’s Centenary Fund and IM Properties Community Fund for Mercia Park.


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