HCF is proud to be part of the UK wide community foundation network involved in distributing a share of the funds raised through the National Emergency Trust (NET) Coronavirus Appeal.
The NET’s Coranavirus Appeal is a UK wide appeal raising funds for local charities and grassroots organisations providing support to those affected by the crisis. The appeal was launched by the British Red Cross and supported by the Duke of Cambridge.
HCF has been awarded a £50,000 share for Hertfordshire in the first round of funding released. These funds are now being distributed as grants to local front-line grassroots charities helping those most impacted by the outbreak.
Helen Gray, Foundation Director for HCF said: "It is a privilege for HCF to be able to play a role at this time – to give funding support to the local community and voluntary organisations that are doing an incredible job under enormous pressure to adapt their existing services and help even more people.”
"We want to make sure these crucial organisations have the funding they need to cope, and also to adapt their services during this crisis. We couldn’t do this without the generous support we have seen for both the NET appeal and our own local appeal.”
The following groups have received emergency funding as a result of the NET appeal:
- Age Concern Stevenage to help older people through delivering essential items such as medicine and food as well as support over the phone.
- Dacorum Community Trust to provide immediate interventions such as fuel top-ups to those facing increasing financial hardship due to the crisis
- Youth Talk to enable them to provide remote counselling to people aged 18-25 in the St Albans district
- Electric Umbrella towards their online interactive programme for adults with learning disabilities
- Signpost Counselling Agency to provide phone counselling to 11-25 year olds with complex mental health needs living in South and West Hertfordshire
- Future Living Hertford towards telephone counselling to help a range of vulnerable people not able to attend face to face sessions including those who had been on the domestic abuse programme and those in addiction recover
- Jubilee House Care Trust for an Electrostatic backpack sprayer to sanitise their centres which provide residential care to children and adults with learning disabilities
- Citizens Advice St Albans and District to purchase 32 Advice Handbooks on poverty and disability rights to enable advisors to work from home and provide advice by phone
- Mind in Mid Herts to help frontline workers from charities and the care sector who are faced with extraordinary stress as a result of this outbreak by providing digital wellbeing courses
- Tilehouse Counselling to buy professional headsets to enable telephone counselling in the Hitchin area
- Home-Start Hertfordshire to provide telephone support to families experiencing poor mental health, isolation and financial problems because of coronavirus. Stevenage, North Herts, St Albans, East Herts, Broxbourne, Dacorum.
- Watford New Hope Trust to provide meals to an increasing number of people experiencing homelessness in the Watford area.
- Headway Hertfordshire to purchase IT equipment so that staff can work from home and continue to support people with head injuries remotely.
- Aldbury Memorial Hall to support a volunteer drive that is helping households in the area who are self isolating to receive food and other essential items.
- The Living Room to provide online triage and assessments as well as addiction therapy groups online
- Resolve towards the costs for a special isolation centre for 14 homeless people during the crisis.
- Gratitude to collect food from supermarkets and online retailers that would otherwise have gone to landfill and deliver directly to vulnerable families and individuals in need through age, illness or disability.
Helen Gray concluded; “Our front-line charities are facing unprecedented challenges and there are still many more organisations that need our help. If you would like to support the voluntary sector who are helping those in serious need please consider making a donation to Hertfordshire Community Foundation’s appeal.
To make a donation click
HERETo apply for a grant from the fund visit
CLICK HERE"Youth Talk exists to support young people across the District with their mental health and emotional wellbeing - and during the current coronavirus crisis our service has never been needed more. Thanks to the support from HCF we have been able to keep our services running and we have now successfully moved all our counselling to remote support sessions - we have seen a 91% take up and expect demand to continue to grow. But like all charities we are already feeling the impact on our fundraising and hope that we can continue to rely on members of the public to support our vital work over the coming weeks and months."
Chief Executive of Youth Talk David Barker “We are delighted to be in receipt of a grant towards us helping more people who are experiencing domestic abuse by providing additional counselling sessions for those in need who can't get out of the house because of COVID19 lockdown.”
Sandra M. Conte, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Future Living “Thank you so much HCF - this grant will enable the Trust to continue supporting the residents of Dacorum during this crisis.”
Lydia Flack Dacorum Community Trust“We are so grateful for this grant from Hertfordshire Community Foundation. Our work has changed rapidly as we have responded to the coronavirus crisis. Aware that people living on the streets were particularly vulnerable, we worked closely with Watford Borough Council, One YMCA and Dean Russell MP to find temporary accommodation for over 60 individuals who needed somewhere safe and secure to stay. We are now providing daily support to these people - three meals a day as well as crucial support with mental health and substance and alcohol misuse. This huge increase in our work is only possible through the kind and generous donations of our community. We'd like to say thank you to the Hertfordshire Community Foundation and all who have given so generously.”
Joe Meehan Fundraising & Communications Officer“We’re extremely grateful to HCF for not only for setting up the Coronavirus Fund but also for making a quick grant allocation. As with other charities across Hertfordshire, we’ve had to make some radical changes to our service in order to meet our clients’ needs which, if anything, have become greater since the Coronavirus crisis took hold. The grant will allow our counsellors to assess a growing waiting list of clients and, in turn, give them access to our online group counselling sessions which we are running throughout every weekday.”
Adrienne Arthurs, CEO The Living Room“Resolve’s Night Shelter has now become a 24 hour, 7 day a week shelter isolating 13 people, homeless and staff. Living together like this is something that will bring with it many challenges. Some we could plan around, but mostly our Team and our Shelter Guests will be “making it up as they go along”. We have planned as much as we could, but we are now finding the things we had not considered. Sometimes mundane things such as razors for men and women, pegs for the washing and the washing line itself. This grant will help us to pay for all of the things they might need over this difficult time and so we shall now not need to worry if we can afford them or not. Our sincere thanks to everyone who donated to this fund and to HCF for confirming this Grant.”
Joe Heeney CEO Resolve