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Community organisations share £90,000 to help residents access affordable and healthy food

Fourteen community organisations in Nottinghamshire are to share £90,000 in funding to improve residents’ access to affordable and healthy food.

They will receive the money from Nottinghamshire County Council’s newly launched Food Redistribution Grant Scheme to enable them to set up or extend schemes to help families and households access affordable, good quality and nutritious food.

The money is the first round of funding as part of a three-year scheme, which is being delivered through the County Council’s Local Communities Fund (LCF).

Two further rounds are planned, with £65,000 to be shared among organisations in the second year (2024/25) and £55,000 made available in 2025/26.

The new support package forms part of the County Council’s continued commitment to support vulnerable residents, ease the financial worries for families facing cost-of-living pressures and develop healthy and sustainable places.

Mark Walker, the County Council’s Interim Service Director for Place and Communities, said: “Nottinghamshire’s community and voluntary sector plays a crucial role in providing a lifeline to some of the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach residents and is well placed to deliver food redistribution schemes in their local area.

“We are acutely aware that low-income families and households across Nottinghamshire continue to experience challenges associated with cost-of-living pressures.

“Therefore, the new Food Redistribution Grant will mean more people will receive extra support to access affordable and nutritious food.

“The scheme will also enable community organisations to work with those people who need help the most and this package of funding reaffirms our ongoing drive to reduce health inequalities across the county.

“The quality of the applications we received was excellent and I would like to thank everyone involved in the process for their support as we’ve rolled out this new grant scheme.”

The 14 community organisations to receive funding under the Food Redistribution Grant Scheme are:

• Bassetlaw Community and Voluntary Service, Worksop – £4,540 – the organisation leads a food insecurity project which will focus will on prioritising food sustainability, redistribution and to support additional partners to establish new food hubs. The funding will be used to extend its food co-ordinator post, who will continue to work with the voluntary sector and other partners to expand food hub provision across Bassetlaw.
• Bassetlaw Food Bank, Worksop – £9,300 – the foodbank provides food parcels as well as a community shop which supports rural villages access affordable food. The funding will be put towards food items, staffing, and fuel.
• Bethesda Ministries, Netherfield – £1,420 – the money will be used to source nutritious low-cost food as part of a wider plan to include a food redistribution scheme and extend opening hours within its existing foodbank.
• Broxtowe Borough Council, Eastwood – £7,210 – to establish a food redistribution scheme to support families in Eastwood and surrounding areas to buy food at a discounted rate, have access to healthy eating information and recipes and signposting to other help and support.
• Broxtowe Borough Council, Chilwell – £7,900 – to establish a food redistribution scheme to support families in Chilwell to buy food at a discounted rate, have access to healthy eating information and recipes and signposting to other help and support.
• Broxtowe Community Projects CIO, Beeston – £9,300 – the funding will be put towards food stock, storage, FareShare subscription costs, and management and volunteer costs as part of a wider plan to introduce a community pantry to allow members to buy affordable food.
• East Kirkby Miners’ Trust, Ashfield – £9,230 – to establish a food redistribution scheme which will provide access to affordable and nutritious food for people experiencing food insecurity. The funding will be put towards a FareShare subscription, equipment set-up costs and volunteer expenses.
• Hope Nottingham CIO, Carlton – £8,460 – to establish a food redistribution scheme in Carlton with access to wide ranging advice and support. The project aims to reach 300 residents in the year. Funding will be used towards set-up costs of the club including equipment, rent, and worker costs.
• Let’s All Eat CIC, Ollerton, Ashfield and Huthwaite – £9,300 – to expand its food distribution schemes in partnership with FareShare in Ollerton, Ashfield and Huthwaite. Funding will contribute towards employing a food coordinator.
• Now Church, Langold, Worksop – £5,950 – the project operates a community food hub providing 300 members with food and recipe cards, budgeting and health and wellbeing advice via partners. Funding will be put towards FareShare subscription and storage equipment.
• Oasis Community Church & Centre, Worksop – £1,400 – to provide residents with access to food boxes via the existing food hub as part of a wider support service which reaches up to 2,000 residents. Funding will be put towards surplus food costs.
• Rhubarb Farm CIC, Mansfield – £4,420 – the organisation has been running food hubs in Bassetlaw for a year and wants to extend its work into rural Mansfield. The money will be used to cover FareShare food costs.
• St Paul’s Church, Worksop – £4,740 – the project is looking to redistribute food provided by local supermarkets and FareShare. Funding will be put towards food and volunteer and staffing costs.
• The Core Centre, Calverton – £6,830 – the centre runs a food redistribution scheme to help prevent food waste as well as supplement residents’ weekly shop. Funding will be used towards food stock, equipment, and volunteer expenses/training as part of a wider drive to increase the number of food boxes it provides from 25 to 100 per week.

For more about the financial support the council is currently providing, please visit our dedicated cost of living support page which is packed with information and advice for residents and communities about how to access the help which is currently available.

NOTES TO EDITORS

This decision will need to be published for five clear working days before it can be implemented. During these five days the decision can be “called in” to be scrutinised by the Overview Committee and can then not be implemented until that process ends.