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East of England Co-op offers £100K to local community groups in Suffolk

by | Jun 7, 2022 | Children & Families, Featured, Health & Wellbeing

Local community groups and charities in Suffolk are being encouraged to apply for a share of £100,000 on offer from the East of England Co-op.

Grants of between £1,000 and £5,000 from the East of England Co-op’s Community Cares Fund are available to local voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations that deliver projects supporting community action, food justice or mental health and wellbeing.

The fund, which opened the 30th May, was launched by the retailer in 2020 to support groups that create services or activities that have a positive impact in their local community. To date, the East of England Co-op has so far given away over £91,000 across Suffolk, supporting more than 8,000 people.

Organisations in the county which have previously benefitted from the Co-op’s Community Cares Fund include The Mix in Stowmarket for their Greenlights project – a mentoring service for children aged 9-11 years who struggle in a range of areas such as anxiety, resilience and low self-esteem, especially in the run up to high school; and Re-engage, which offers telephone befriending and tea parties for older people who are living alone.

The East of England Co-op’s Community Cares Fund is delivered in partnership with the Suffolk Community Foundation. The latest round for applications will be open for four weeks and closes on 24 June.

As a co-operative we’re committed to supporting our local communities and helping them to thrive. Our previous funding rounds have been extremely popular so we know times are incredibly challenging at the moment for community groups and the local people they support, but it is these small organisations that have the biggest impact.

Thanks to the generous support of our members, who have kindly donated their dividend points along with cash donations, we’re able to support even more fantastic projects across the region.

Kat Reading

East of England Co-op Community Development Manager

About the East of England Co-op

  • The East of England Co-op is the largest independent retailer in East Anglia, with over 230 branches across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.
  • The East of England Co-op has a £125 million investment property portfolio of 500 properties throughout East Anglia, including just under 250 residential units.
  • The East of England Co-op has been serving communities for over 150 years and is owned by over 260,000 members. It is completely independent of the Co-operative Group.
  • Each year, the East of England Co-op invests part of its profits to support communities across their trading area. In-light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the East of England Co-op rerouted funding to the East of England Co-op Community Cares Fund, which supports local groups and services in need at this time.
  • Visit: eastofengland.coop

 

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