Standard to hand out landmark aid package as fund hits £4.6m
A LANDMARK package of assistance for Grenfell Tower families was announced today as our fund hit £4.65 million thanks to contributions from almost 50,000 individual donors.
The multi-million-pound package, agreed by the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund in consultation with two other major charities, is set to make a substantial difference to victims of the blaze and was announced this morning by the Charity Commission. It commits us to a first-round package of funding in which:
£20,000 will be paid to the families of each person who has died, or is declared missing presumed dead. A family that has lost more than one member will receive £20,000 per victim.
£10,000 is available to each person seriously injured and requiring hospital treatment.
A £10,000 fresh-start grant will be made to every Grenfell Tower family which has been made homeless.
The Dispossessed Fund will provide the largest portion of this consolidated package with the balance coming from the British Red Cross and the Kensington & Chelsea Foundation. Funding to bereaved families and those injured in the fire will be available for immediate distribution, with the fresh start grants to be made when families move into new permanent accommodation. Further fresh start grants will be allocated from our fund in the coming weeks.
It comes on top of the £215,000 already disbursed by our fund, including £107,000 of emergency grants given out in £1,000 instalments to each family who survived, and with a further £110,000 paid to community groups.
David Holdsworth, chief operating officer at the Charity Commission, said: “This [three-way] collaboration will help ensure clear, easy access to the help and support that those affected by this devastating tragedy so urgently need. They can never heal what has happened but this will hopefully provide some help to those suffering at this most difficult time.”
George Osborne, editor of the Lon- don Evening Standard, thanked the almost 50,000 donors who have contributed to our fund and said: “The numb shock I felt when I stepped out of my home and saw the burning tower block that early morning will never leave me. The tragedy of Grenfell Tower has rightly thrown a spotlight onto divisions in our society, but the incredible response of Londoners has also brought us together in unity.
“The army of volunteers and now the millions of pounds of donations from tens of thousands of individuals and hundreds of businesses has shown our country at its best. As editor, I offer a deep, heartfelt thank you.”
The two community groups responsible for making emergency payments from our fund of £1,000 per flat have been handing out cash all week and by this morning had reached 107 families. Rugby Portobello Trust had distributed £83,000 and the National Zakat Foundation, based at the nearby Al-Manaar mosque, had disbursed £24,000 on our behalf.
Leone Buncombe, senior youth worker at Rugby Portobello Trust and responsible for co-ordinating the Dispossessed Fund payments, said: “For us it is sadly personal as some of the children who were our clients died in the fire, including a family of five, a family of two, and two five-year-olds who attended our homework club.
“One of our youth club girls, Ines Alves, who lived in the tower, had her GCSEs the next morning and she was stood outside the tower with her revision books all night and remarkably still went and sat her exams. The impact keeps coming in waves. massive, massive, massive.”
Mark Simms, chief executive of Rugby Portobello Trust, said: “The Dispossessed Fund has enabled us to give Grenfell Tower residents an immediate payment of £1,000 to cover their shortterms needs. We know that rebuilding
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