September 2013 CSH Surrey continues to support local communities through its Community Fund. This month its grant panel (pictured) awarded £2,000 to the Surrey Disabled People’s Partnership for their Foot Care Service in the Mole Valley area, and a further £2,000 to Churches Together in Cobham to help towards the costs of setting up a local food bank.
Surrey Disabled People's Partnership provides a basic foot care service to elderly and disabled people aged 16 and over in their own home. This includes toe nail cutting, removal of hard skin and corns, foot care advice and, if required, referral to the NHS podiatry service as well as signposting to other services and groups. Demand is high, with 309 appointments in Mole Valley in the last 12 months.
Churches Together in Cobham applied to CSH Surrey's Community Fund to support the setting up a local food bank as a result of an identified need for such a service within local communities. Once set up, the food bank will be able to provide food for those living within local communities in the Cobham area who receive a voucher or ‘certificate of need’ from local organisations.
The CSH Surrey Community Fund was set up in 2012 with £10,000 from CSH Surrey's reserves. As a type of business called a social enterprise, CSH Surrey trades for a social purpose - so rather than maximising private profit for shareholders, CSH Surrey's aim is to make profit so it can benefit its local communities. Its Community Fund is one of several tangible ways it achieves this. In 2013, CSH Surrey's Board chose to put a further £10,000 from reserves towards the work of the Fund. In addition, CSH Surrey's co-owners raise money throughout the year for the Community Fund. In June 2013, eight co-owners completed the well known Three Peaks Challenge, raising more than £6,000 for the Fund.