The Volunteer Centre Dorset’s Community Credit Scheme has received £5,000 to fund a gardening project growing fruit, vegetables and herbs, for homeless people and those on low incomes in Weymouth.
The donation was provided by the Santander Foundation, which offers Discovery Grants to UK registered charities for projects that help disadvantaged people in local communities.
The Volunteer Centre Dorset is an accredited centre supporting volunteering throughout Dorset. The charity’s Community Credit Scheme was set up to enable volunteers with learning disabilities to volunteer with the full support of a volunteer mentor.
The grant has enabled the charity to employ a part-time gardener or team leader to run the project as well as buy tools and plants for the project. The aim of the project is to teach people with learning disabilities new gardening skills and be beneficial to the wider community in Weymouth by growing vegetables for local residents.
Siobhan Davis at the Volunteer Centre Dorset said: “We began the project a few weeks ago and already local people and local businesses are stopping to say what an amazing job we are doing in Weymouth. Our team of volunteers are making lifelong friendships and feel part of something bigger. One young man said he would normally be hanging about on the streets but now he is enjoying the gardening and feels he is contributing to his local community.”
Suzanne Dicker, Branch Manager at Santander’s Dorchester Branch, said: “The Santander Foundation makes hundreds of donations to local projects every year with the aim of assisting organisations, communities and vulnerable people throughout the UK. The staff at our branch know the great work Volunteer Centre Dorset does in our community and we hope this grant will help them in their support for local people.”
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Notes to Editors:
Media Contact
Leonora Burtenshaw at Santander
Email: Leonora.burtenshaw@santander.co.uk Tel: 020 7756 4543
Siobhan Davis at Volunteer Centre Dorset
Email: S.Davis@volunteeringdorset.org.uk Tel: 01305 269214 / 07918639014
About Volunteer Centre Dorset
The Dorset Volunteer Centre is part of a national network of volunteer centres that help voluntary and community organisations recruit and manage their volunteers, and help people interested in volunteering to find interesting and enjoyable opportunities. It is committed to promoting and developing volunteering for all throughout Dorset.
For more information please visit: www.volunteeringdorset.org.uk
Santander Foundation
The Santander Foundation is at the heart of the Bank’s community activities, providing grants to small charities and social enterprises working with disadvantaged people to fund skills, knowledge and innovation projects across the UK. Discovery Grants of up to £5,000 are available to support three types of activity:
- Explorer: improving people’s knowledge
- Transformer: supporting skills and experience
- Changemaker: innovative solutions to social challenges
Over the last five years, the Santander Foundation has provided £26 million in funding to 13,914 UK charities through Discovery Grants and Staff Matched Donations. For more information please visit: www.santanderfoundation.org.uk
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. At 31 March 2018, the bank has c19,500 employees. It serves around 14 million active customers, via a nationwide branch network, telephone, mobile and online banking; and 64 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.