Half-a-million pounds raised by charity to rebuild lives during pandemic in Northamptonshire

A new report published by the counties main grant giving charity has shown how Northamptonshire has gone above and beyond to rally round those in their darkest moments.

One hundred days after launching their Coronavirus Response and Recovery Fund, Northamptonshire Community Foundation (NCF) has supported 73,427 residents through the public health crisis, a new report has discovered.

Rachel McGrath, deputy CEO at NCF, said: “We are delighted to share our interim impact review to celebrate the extraordinary civil society response of local community groups, charities and donors during this devastating public health crisis.

"We have been completely blown away and deeply humbled by the care and concern and range and breadth of projects to keep people safe and well here in Northamptonshire."

The funding has meant that £572,697 has been awarded to 178 community projects, supported by 6,464 volunteers, which has provided food aid, medical supplies, counselling services and community transport.

Those projects include Baby Basics which was awarded £6,000 to fund emergency packs for new mums in need, Northamptonshire Association for the Blind had £5,486 to start a befriending service and The Swan and Helmet pub received £18,000 for a lifeline foodbank.

Landlady Teresa McCarthy-Dixon said: "We have fed over 20,000 people and quite quickly I thought there would be a need to help in the community.

"We also help 29 local schools on a weekly basis. On an average week we were giving out 850 to 1,000 packages and this is where I could see there was other needs too."

After dropping off food parcels, Teresa spotted people who were bereaved and in ill health couldn't maintain their gardens. This spurred her on to launch the McCarthy-Dixon Foundation to help with gardening and a basic cookery school for those on a shoe-string budget.

"It's been an eye-opener for me, I can definitley say we have learned a lot," she added. "If we all work together how much will we achieve?

"It's helping peoples wellbeing. It's like a new world for them to sit in their garden.”

The appeal is continuing to raise further funds to help with the ongoing work of supporting vulnerable residents and helping charitable organisations recover from the impact of COVID-19, if you can donate click here.