Vital National Lottery funding for The Albion Foundation’s COVID-19 community programme

Families and vulnerable people across Sandwell are being supported with food parcels, home visits, and even ‘check in’ phone calls from ex-Baggies to help tackle loneliness - thanks to a new scheme from The Albion Foundation.

The charity - which is the community arm of West Bromwich Albion FC - has recently received a £50,000 grant from The National Lottery Community Fund to help finance the programme.

The money, awarded by the largest funder of community activity in the UK, will enable The Albion Foundation to work with local schools and other partner organisations to support over 350 families identified as those most in need at this difficult time. Additional help is being offered to those with disabilities, older people, and those at risk of social isolation.

So far, the project has delivered over 2,000 food parcels to vulnerable people in the community and over 6,000 hot meals have been delivered to families in need, which were identified by local schools.

It has also set up the ‘Baggies Buddies’ scheme, where ex-players and current staff make phone calls to vulnerable and socially isolated residents to ‘check in’ on their wellbeing. Nearly 4,000 calls have already been made thanks to the scheme.

Rob Lake, Director at The Albion Foundation, said: “The funding is an absolute Godsend – it will allow us to continue making a massive difference to local people and families in need. We’d like to give a special thanks to National Lottery players, without you this wouldn’t be possible.”

Nicola Thurbon, Senior Head of Funding for the Midlands at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “The National Lottery is playing a critical role in supporting people, projects and communities during these challenging times. Groups such as The Albion Foundation are making an amazing contribution to the community-level response. We’re incredibly grateful for their dedication and the hard work of thousands of projects across the UK – we’re humbled by their efforts and delighted that our funding is able to help.”

Charities and community groups across the West Midlands have been awarded more than £2.6 million of National Lottery funding since the beginning of June – providing crucial support to overcome challenges caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

The West Midlands isn’t alone in receiving National Lottery funding - over £21 million of National Lottery funding has been awarded to more than 750 projects in England since the beginning of June.

The National Lottery Community Fund distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes. Last year we awarded over half a billion pounds (£588.2 million) of life-changing funding to communities across the UK, and supported over 14,000 projects to turn their great ideas into reality and make a difference in their communities.

Across all of the National Lottery distributors, £600 million has been made available to support communities throughout the UK during the coronavirus outbreak. 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.

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