RRCP Grant Awards
The Rotary Club of Reading Community Project has recently awarded grants to the following charities:-
Faith Christian Group
£1,000 to open a new food pantry in Southcote.
The Charity priorities are:
- A food pantry where members of the local community can come and chose food at reduced rates and connect with others in the café.
- The café is free, so members chat between themselves but also with members of the Faith Christian Group, who can direct them to other partners for extra help.
- The money would be instrumental in providing food to those who struggle financially and are often lonely and have additional pressures.
Reading Refugee Support Group
£1,000 to purchase a branded gazebo, to use at fundraising and awareness events.
Their existing gazebo needs replacing, and having a branded gazebo is essential for promoting their work and attracting funds.
The Charity priorities are:
- Offering free legal services.
- Running ‘Drop-in’ centres and services.
- Re-settling families through the Government resettlement scheme.
Over the last year, the weekly ‘Drop in’ attracted a total of 1045 visits.
Citizen Advice Reading
£1.000 to assist with their Outreach Program.
The Charity priorities are:
- To help people with the problems, by providing free, impartial , confidential, high-quality advice.
- To campaign on the issues that they see affecting their clients.
- To recruit and train local volunteers to help local people.
This service has helped 219 people since October 2023.
RRCP is currently considering the following additional requests:-
Green Ways
£1,000 to keep their Community Free Shop open, including covering rent whilst other funding is processed.
Sarah Snow from Green Ways gave a presentation at our lunchtime meeting on the 17th of September
The Charity priorities are:
- To reduce expenditure for all, reduce emissions and unnecessary travel costs and promote sharing of community resources, by the recycling of goods.
- Running a free shop ‘Waste Not’ , based in Caversham, to receive and recycle unwanted items.
They support around 300 people a month (not unique visitors) with items from their shop.
Rahab
£1,000 to fund an outreach project in the Oxford Road/Western Elms area to identify and support sex workers.
The Charity priorities are:
- To support women to break free from cycles of abuse, poverty, and addiction.
- To decrease loneliness and isolation, reduce health and social inequalities and to support the women to have a voice in decision making.
- This leads to empowerment to make positive choices, leading to a brighter and more hopeful future.
In 2023 Rahab supported 49 women and a similar number will benefit from the proposed project
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