GARFIELD WESTON FOUNDATION
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Colonel Murray Colville, the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire, recently came to visit our training centre to open our brand new community kitchen which was funded by the Garfield Weston Foundation. He was shown around the centre by Martin Buchanan (CEO) and Sarah Treanor and Peter Smith (Trustees) and they were accompanied by Cllr. Sue Waddington (Local Ward Councillor), who actively supports our work in the community.
Our community kitchen was funded through a grant of £74,000.00 from the Garfield Weston Foundation, one of the UK’s largest charitable funders.
This funding has enabled us to create a new professsional quality kitchen which will provide catering courses for students attending our Strike Out programme.
The Weston Anniversary Fund was launched in 2018 to provide funding to charities to improve their existing facilities or provide new ones as part of the Foundation’s 60thyear. The Trustees took the decision to more than double the fund after receiving over 2,300 applications, with over 60% from charities that have never applied to them before.
Martin Buchanan, Chief Executive of E2 says:
"We are really grateful to The Garfield Weston Foundation, who recognised the invaluable work we do in Beaumont Leys and beyond, and have supported us with funding to create a new kitchen at our E2 Training Centre at Home Farm which will benefit young people and adults. Our food bank numbers are increasing weekly and the creation of a new kitchen will allow young people and adults to gain new skills as well as directly helping people that access our food bank who are in crisis by providing freshly prepared cooked food.
In just one week we experienced a 25% increase in people accessing our food bank which we were barely able to cope with. This new funding means we can cook food onsite in bulk amounts and ensure the supplies and donations we get go even further.
Jacqueline Taylor who uses E2’s food bank stated ‘...now things are busier and more people want help there is less food to go around and people are having to survive with even less. I welcome Garfield Weston’s new funding and know that E2 will do their best to ensure as many people as possible benefit from it’.
The Garfield Weston Foundation’s Director, Philippa Charles, commented:
“What really impressed our Trustees is the amount of volunteering and community involvement that’s going on across the UK. We heard about so many amazing projects involving local people who are helping their communities thrive - regardless of cuts and other challenges. The response from charities to this new fund clearly demonstrates the voluntary sector is proactive and energetic; far from the complacency it is sometimes accused of. Yet we can also see the level of need that exists in our local communities and how much the services charities provide are so desperately needed. The impact of these grants will be significant, with benefits for many people lasting years.”
"From community centres providing services for isolated older people to organisations tackling youth and gang crime, the funding from the Weston Anniversary Fund will help charities from across the UK provide more and better service in their communities. A recent survey by the Foundation found that two-thirds (66%) of small charities expect their income to stay the same or decline this year, yet over half (55%) expect to be delivering more services. Getting help with refurbishments or a new building has been highlighted by charities as important as it helps them earn new income."