A charitable fund administered by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Community Foundation (HIWCF) has so far donated more than £24K to 9 community food banks and emergency food service projects across the region.
The Cubitt & West Emergency Fund was established by the Southeast’s largest estate agents to provide food for those struggling to feed their families. The Emergency Fund will be making further grants to support foodbanks and other charities and not-for-profit organisations in Hampshire helping to support families and children with emergency food provision during the continuing cost-of-living crisis.
Cosham Larder (pictured above) received a grant of £2,500 to develop their services. Representing the group, Emma Vigor said: “Cosham Larder is grateful to HIWCF and Cubitt & West for this generous grant. We can now extend our successful work – recycling surplus food and providing an economical source of food for families in Cosham, Wymering and Paulsgrove.
“This grant will help us to establish a satellite hub, called the Little Larder, within the church of St Philip which will be more accessible to families and individuals who cannot travel easily to our main site. It will complement our Wellbeing Café run by the church in an adjacent space, and will allow us to cater for our community’s spiritual, mental and physical needs all in one place.”
For every property Cubitt & West value, it is donating £100 to local food banks to help support and provide vital items like clothing, food and energy vouchers. The movement comes as a direct result of the on-going cost-of-living crisis that so many people are impacted by. Alongside this, Cubitt & West agents have been visiting their local food banks to volunteer with creating food parcels and organising stock, as well as hosting food drives in their own branches.
Arun Estates Managing Director, Aldo Sotgiu said:
“The ability to give back to our community and support those who need it most is a huge part of who we are and the values we represent. Right now, so many people are struggling, and we have always been focused on helping people in the best way.”
Jacqui Scott, HIWCF CEO said: “Our new partnership with Cubitt & West is helping to address the most pressing needs during this cost of living crisis, and we know that January can hit the pockets hard, particularly for the most vulnerable in our communities. We’re also aware that requests for vital services such as food bank access and energy bill support has increased significantly in the last few months and that’s why our support and that of our partners is so crucial.”
Community groups to have received a grant so far include:
| New Life Christian Church ‘Love Your Neighbour Foundation’ | Emsworth | £1,000 |
| Park Community Ventures | Havant | £2,000 |
| Liss Foodbank | Liss | £4,125 |
| Baby Box Isle of Wight | Isle of Wight | £1,666.67 |
| Age Concern Hampshire | Hampshire | £4,000 |
| Cosham Larder | Cosham | £2,500 |
| Enable Ability | Portsmouth | £3,000 |
| Repair Café Hayling | Hayling | £2,921.00 |
| Revive Newport | Newport | £3,500 |
