Newly founded Northampton charity goes from strength to strength with vital donations from businesses
A newly founded Northampton charity is thriving with the help of vital donations from businesses in the town.
The McCarthy-Dixon Foundation was founded by the landlady of The Swan & Helmet in Grove Road after she used her pub as a food bank during the pandemic.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdTeresa McCarthy-Dixon set up the charity when she realised that even after restrictions lifted there were still a lot of residents that needed support.
Now the landlady and her team of volunteers provide meals to school children, food to families, support groups for older people, house renovations and much more.
Recently, the team has benefited from two donations from local businesses; a van and a number of electronic tablets.
Lynch Plant Hire was able to provide a much needed van from the company's own vehicle fleet.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdTeresa said: "This vital donation will allow us to transport all of our food from suppliers back to our warehouse to then be distributed to more than fifty local schools and reach more than 40,000 vulnerable local residents.
“We've previously relied on our volunteers’ personal vehicles and having one vehicle now dedicated to the charity's transport needs makes us all the more capable of supporting more people.”
Company director, Liam Lynch, added: "At Lynch, we really appreciate the work that charities like this do for our local communities and we want to get involved in helping them.”
As part of extending the foundation’s services and reaching more people and their needs, Teresa is also launching a basic IT course.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdTo do this, she needs access to electronic devices, which DBFB Communications in Moulton Park offered to provide.
The company donated eight Samsung tablets which will now be used to help deliver the training.
Teresa continued: "Since the pandemic and the extended length of time that people were forced to stay at home to work, participating in and holding Zoom calls is almost second nature to many of us, but you'd be surprised how many people are filled with dread at the thought.
“After meeting so many people through our Doorstep Buddies and Monday Club services that suffer from these fears, we decided to hold a course designed to familiarise people with a tablet and its capabilities.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“Participants will be discovering and mastering basic tasks such as shopping online, participating in video meetings, booking and attending online doctors appointments, using social media, setting up emails and much more.
"We couldn't be more grateful to Simon and his team at DBFB Communications for donating these vital tools.
"The thought of participants arriving with their own devices, connecting them all to the wifi and setting everything up for each person was going to make this project just too time consuming to be able to deliver any useful information.
“With Simon's donation, everything can be set up and tested in advance. Each visitor can walk in and have access to a device that just works immediately, making the content of the course more accessible and less stressful for all.”
Visit the charity’s website to find out more.