£117,000 in grants handed out

COMMUNITY groups have been awarded more than £117,000 in grant funding to help them recover from the pandemic.

Charnwood Borough Council launched its VCS Covid-19 Recovery grants in a bid to help voluntary organisations respond to community needs.

A total of 39 organisations have been awarded funding which will help with the additional cost of PPE and cleaning, reopening of buildings and restarting or adapting services to meet current government guidelines.

Loughborough Wellbeing Cafe was awarded £5,000 to help cover the costs of working in new ways to support people with mental health issues and isolation.

Helen Carter, chief operational officer, said: “The grant will enable us to provide public protective equipment to enable us to begin to run small group activities from our shop and cafe and to be able to offer ongoing online sessions.”

New Life Community Church received £4,500, TwentyTwenty was awarded £5,000 towards the Love4Life project and a grant of £1,200 was awarded to Leslie Edwards Trust, a small charity which helps people with hearing difficulties.