Thanks to National Lottery players £22 million of funding distributed to West Midlands communities since start of the pandemic

Charities and community groups across the West Midlands have received more than £22 million in much-needed funding since the COVID-19 crisis and lockdown began* – all thanks to National Lottery players.

The money, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, has reached more than 500 community organisations across the region.

Worcestershire charity, LikeU CIO – which helps local Eastern European migrants connect to their local community - has been delivering a range of activities and support throughout COVID-19, via its ‘Help Your Neighbour’ campaign.

A new grant of £18,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund means that the charity can offer a warm meal, twice a week, to over 50 people in the local community – alongside regular visits and ‘check-ins’ for vulnerable residents.

The funding has also helped the group to launch its ‘Teddies for Needies’ project, where used toys are collected from people that do not need them anymore, then they are thoroughly sanitised before being gifted to other children. So far, hundreds of teddies have ‘moved house’ successfully, warming the hearts of children and their families.

Tomasz Jarecki, General Manager at LikeU CIO, said: “We started Help Your Neighbour in March, and since then it has been growing rapidly - fuelled by passion, great community spirit and a tremendous amount of goodwill. We've managed to get to the point where we are supporting over 150 local people.

“But as lockdown began to lift, the key question was ‘how do we continue to keep people safe, connected and supported?’ Now, thanks to the generous support of The National Lottery Community Fund, we can keep making a huge difference in the community. The people we support can now self-isolate peacefully, knowing that there's always someone to support them with groceries, medication and other tasks that would require them to go out and expose themselves to risk.”

Birmingham has received almost £6 million, shared across more than 150 organisations, since the start of the crisis. This includes a £90,000 award to Birmingham Irish Association, to deliver a city-wide response to COVID-19, partnering with a range of local organisations to provide support and care to thousands of vulnerable people across the city.

The West Midlands isn’t alone in benefiting from vital National Lottery funding. Today it was announced that £300 million has been distributed to over 7,400 community organisations across the UK since the COVID-19 crisis and lockdown began.

Grassroots groups, small local charities and UK-wide charities have been awarded this funding to enable them to continue their fantastic work supporting communities through these unprecedented times.

Almost 20% of this life-changing money (£53 million) has gone to micro (annual income of less than £10,000**) and small groups (income between £10,000 and £100,000**) and a further £120 million to medium-sized organisations (income between £100,000 and £1 million**), as communities rally to recover from the impacts of the crisis.

Nicola Thurbon, Senior Head of Funding for the Midlands at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “Money raised by National Lottery players has been vital in helping people and communities across the West Midlands support each other through the pandemic. Volunteers and charity workers have played an incredible role in keeping people safe, supported and connected. Over the coming months National Lottery funding will continue to bring people and communities together to build solutions and recover from the crisis.”

Thanks to National Lottery players, £30 million is raised every week for the UK’s good causes, and £41 billion has been distributed to 565,000 good causes across the UK since 1994.

In addition, since May, The National Lottery Community Fund has been responsible for distributing £200 million in coronavirus community support on behalf of the Government. This funding closes to applications on 17 August.

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk