December's Community Stories

This month was International Day of Persons with Disabilities

The UN has marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3rd December since 1992, to spread the word on disability issues and mobilise support for the dignity, rights, and well-being of persons with disabilities.

The Grangers club is a social club for young people with learning disabilities to meet up with their peers and have fun.

The group provides a safe space for members to make friends and have fun in an all-inclusive environment. The group enables its members to make individual choices and develop independent confidence in their own ability.

With the support of the Community Resilience Team, the group received £1,170 from the Council’s Support and Recovery Grant. This will cover the groups expenses for 6 months and has allowed them to invest in new equipment to give the club more variety and encourage the members to try different activities and games.

They are now being supported by the team to make further applications to The National Lottery Awards for All.

The group meet every Tuesday at the Hagard Centre 6:30pm-8:30pm

Sky Blue Support

Sky Blue Support has been continuing it’s hard work putting on weekly street feed events to those in need in the Hillfield and Willenhall areas. Each week they provide free warm meals, grocery items and clothing. They have partnered with local groups and charities, restaurants and cafes, and even supermarket chains to help provide support to the community. On the last event, over 100 hot meals and drinks were provided and over 150 food parcels were given to people struggling during this difficult time.

Having worked with the Community Resilience Team, Sky Blue Support applied for the Community Recovery Grant and was awarded £1050 to be able to hire out indoor warm spaces in Hillfields and Willenhall to be able to continue their work, whatever the weather. This has certainly come in handy during these chilly last couple of weeks!

The Resilience Team was able to help in connecting Sky Blue Support to venues to host the weekly feed events, the first of these being at St Peter’s Church in Hillfields on Saturday, 17^th December. The next event is set to be a festive feed on Saturday, 24^th December at Willenhall Social Club. This is a free event, and Sky Blue Support are supporting it with hot and cold food, drinks and snacks between 10am til 12pm.

More feeds are set for the new year at 1pm each Saturday in Hillfields and Willenhall - to find out more about the next events, check out their social media page and you can donate to the go fund me page

Canley Chit Chat Group

A community group that meets every Tuesday at the Canley Community Centre for chat and companionship.
The group is for people aged 50+ and was established by the centre manager Anna-Marie Corbett and has a growing membership. It costs £1 for entry, and all are welcome. It supports residents who might be feeling socially isolated, and lonely. The group does a varied variety of arts and crafts and has professional crafters come and teach them new skills such as flower arranging, and wreath making.

Anna-Marie worked with the Community Resilience Team and applied for their Community Recovery Grant Fund and was awarded £1500 to purchase new equipment and supplies to introduce new crafting hobbies.

One group member was delighted with the new crystal art craft that she was introduced to. It gave her a new focus and helped her with concentration and had a calming, relaxing effect on her wellbeing. It also gave her a lovely picture that she was able to take home and admire her achievement.

The community centre is also open as a warm space a warm space centre for anyone who needs warmth and a free hot drink.

Developers across the city support Coventry Food Network's Christmas Campaign

The Community Resilience Team (CRT) have had a very busy couple of months supporting the Coventry Food Network by devising a Christmas Donations Campaign to help increase donations over the festive period.

The team approached local developers & businesses to help advertise and share their campaign with their employees and set up donation points on their premises. There was also a collection box at Friargate where Coventry City Council colleagues could also donate items.

The food donated and money raised will be distributed between the food hubs and used to bulk purchase non-donated food items which will support families not just over Christmas, but into January. To date £2040 has been raised in 7 weeks and approximately £1,700 of food distributed.

The Community Resilience Team and Coventry Food Network would like to thank all the staff at Friargate and all those organisations that supported the campaign.
These include: Belfour Beatty, Bowmer + Kirkland, Danaher & Walsh Civil Engineering LTD, Highway Traffic Management, East Midlands Landscaping LTD, Severn Trent, Smart Learner, Stubbs Construction LTD, The Rose and Crown, Vacant Property Services (VPS), Wolston Community & Friargate.

Contributors all either raised money, collected, and donated food items from employees or advertised the campaign. Their support has been invaluable to the network and enables them to continue to provide their services.

If you would like to support Coventry Food Network bulk purchase food visit their just giving page where individuals can donate as much or as little as they like. Every donation is vital to the local organisations running the social supermarkets and in ensuring vulnerable families have enough support this Christmas.

More information on all support available can be found https://www.coventry.gov.uk/cost-living-wellbeing-support