Making a big difference for small communities at Christmas

The feedback from our Christmas Connections grants has shown that small community grants can make a big difference. The £20,000 grant programme helped 34 grassroots charities for older people.

Hilary from Hetton New Dawn told us how the grant helped their charity: “Using our local community transport, we delivered 38 warm packs to older people in the area. They were much appreciated by the isolated older people who received them.”

Amanda, who runs the Country Lunches community group in Heathfield explained “We were able to throw a hugely successful Christmas party for 80 older members of our community. The atmosphere was fantastic, and we all agreed that without exception each of our guests had had a fabulous day – they were full of thanks and many quite emotional.

Donald from a community group in North Ayrshire shared feedback from the deliveries of their ‘Jolly Bags of Kindness’: “The gifts of groceries, books and magazines were very well received in the community. People were so grateful to have been thought of.”

This work is only made possible thanks to fundraising and support across the McCarthy Stone family. Thank you all for your efforts.

Our Spring Grants Programme will launch soon. If your charity or community group helps older people and you’d like to apply for a grant then please apply via our website from 19^th January 2023.