The Kenwood Community Fund has awarded £25,000 in grants to four community organisations based in the Havant and Waterlooville area. The grant programme is administered by HIWCF to support charitable projects working to address the issues of health, nutrition and wellbeing in local communities.
The four groups receiving grants in this round of funding are: Off The Record (South East Hampshire), Angel Radio, Heart of Hayling Boxing Academy and Rowan’s Hospice. The successful projects will enable cookery lessons for those that have been bereaved, boxing to encourage fitness and wellbeing for younger people, ‘oldies radio’ broadcasts to develop home-cooking skills, and emotional management courses for young people to help with anxiety and stress.
Grant Cornwell, Chief Executive at HIWCF said “We are delighted to be partnering with the team at Kenwood to facilitate this generous grant making programme. We are keen to inspire more local companies across Hampshire to give back to the local communities in which their business and employees are based, as we believe that nothing beats supporting the smaller charities that are working so hard on our doorstep to help those less fortunate.”
Heart of Hayling Boxing Academy has received a grant of £7,664 to enable the club to continue to support members to learn new boxing skills, increase physical fitness, confidence and wellbeing, and offer a pathway to get involved in competitive boxing in a safe and fun environment.
Mark Coates, Lead Coach at Heart of Hayling Boxing Academy commented “We coach several boxers with a variety of disabilities each week, and we have 145 young people attending in total, many of whom come from less wealthy backgrounds and cannot afford the £2 suggested weekly donation. Members often say that the club feels like family to them and by proving that sense of belonging and sense of purpose that can sometimes be missing from family life, we hope that it helps them to avoid getting involved in anti-social behaviour and gang-related activities. This HIWCF grant from the Kenwood Fund will make a massive difference to the lives of the young people we help in our local community.”
Angel Radio’s grant of £4,876 will fund production and broadcast of a minimum of 100 radio show ‘drop-ins’ which will work to the style of “What’s the recipe today Jim?”. The sessions will feature a mixture of both old fashioned and modern healthy recipes to cater for all tastes, with nutritionists providing advice and facts about food, the human body and the history of food. The aim is to encourage those that are less competent at cooking to come along and have a go, enabling them to meet and mix with new people, learn new skills and gain a sense of purpose, resulting in enhanced wellbeing and helping to reduce isolation.
Photo: German TV producer Sunna Isenberg, Station Manager at Angel Radio Tony Smith and German journalist Vivian Pascal, presenting healthy eating German-style.
Tony Smith, Station Manager at Angel Radio said “Radio listeners can experiment with cooking a meal in a fun and entertaining way. Those that attend the recordings and demonstrations will gain first-hand experience and skills, and will be encouraged to begin their own healthy home cookery discussion groups. In addition, local residents of different cultures and ethnicities will enhance understanding of how food can break down racial misunderstanding. It is hoped that this project will lead to a long-term radio series with continuing listener input.”
Helen Feeney, Legal Manager at Kenwood commented “We are committed to supporting the local community through the Kenwood Community Fund. Managing our charitable giving through HIWCF enables us to identify and focus on innovative local projects that address the challenges of health, nutrition and wellbeing, to achieve maximum impact and make a real difference to the lives of vulnerable and disadvantaged people in our area.”
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