The recipient of the main £1,000 cheque was Involve Community, a charity that supports voluntary, community and faith groups in Bracknell Forest and Wokingham.
The donation will help fund the charity’s ‘more than just a cup of tea’ initiative, a volunteer-led befriending scheme which provides social contact and a sense of belonging to isolated elderly people through regular social visits. More widely, the charity links volunteers to vital organisations such as Amnesty International and St John’s Ambulance, and provides training, advice and organisational support to a range of groups.
Our quarterly grant scheme allows people coming to our Visitors Centre at our Buckler’s Park development to cast their vote for one of three local charities. The one with the highest number of votes receives the largest share of a £2,000 fund. The scheme was launched in July 2018 and since then £6,000 has been donated to nine organisations that do great work just like Involve, from charities supporting sick children and their families to those dedicated to combating domestic abuse.
Legal & General Homes Managing Director, John Allan, says: “Our grant scheme enables us to listen to the community and support the causes they care about most. This quarter they chose Involve Community who do some incredibly important and really diverse work. We’re so pleased that our donation will help to support local elderly people and help connect them with this great area.”
Philip Cook, General Manager at Involve Community, added: “Thanks to the recognition and support from Legal & General Homes, Involve is able to continue to support hundreds of older, isolated people in the Bracknell Forest community through its befriending scheme. The financial support received enables Involve to continue to recruit, train and match volunteers with people in the area that are lonely or isolated.”
Local registered charities can apply to be part of our charitable grant scheme by visiting our Social Value page filling in the application form. We’ll be rolling the scheme out at each of our new Visitors Centres so if your organisation is based near Shrivenham or Finchampstead, get in touch.
This quarter’s chosen charities are:
- Autism Berkshire, a support and activity group
- Citizens Advice Bracknell and Crowthorne
- All Night Café, which provides food to veterans and the homeless
The Buckler’s Park Visitors Centre is open 10:00am – 5:30pm every day and until 7:00pm on Mondays for those who would like to place a vote or find out more about the work we do in our local communities.
