We are delighted to announce that we’ve been awarded funding from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund

The award of funding from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund marks another notable step along our journey from a kernel of an idea as the pandemic swept into view to a valuable local organisation providing meaningful and needed support to people in our community. We have received funding for six months, to build on the successful Covid-19 response initiative that we initially ‘adopted and adapted’ (stole!) from Millfield School in neighbouring Somerset.

Back then, in late spring / early summer, we launched Catch 77 with the support of Chartwell’s national supply chain which had capacity due to the closure of schools. As the schools went back we had to take more of the operations ‘in house’ and the grant will enable us to implement what we’ve learnt over the past few months, and make the most of the fantastic network of local organisations that we are increasingly part of.

The grant will be used to fund a part-time coordinator, provide equipment for our facilities, train up more volunteers and help pay for the food that we deliver through our Family Food Boxes. Our new Coordinator, Mary Richards, has already joined us and will give us the capacity to develop the organisation, implement our new operational model, build our network, and – what its all about – support more families.

A big thank you to the South West regional team at the National Lottery Community Fund for supporting it, and to the Government for the funding! (And to Matt Innes for helping with the grant application!)