Karmabank Community Kitchen & Food Support at Chapel Park Community Centre, one of the winners of a first-round grant (photo: HVA).

Grants available for local food projects

Applications are now open for a second round of grants to support local food projects from the Hastings & Rother Food Network. Matt Pitts, communications officer for Hastings Voluntary Action which facilitates the network, explains.

The Hastings & Rother Food Network, which in April awarded £45,000 in grants to support 23 local food projects, has now launched a second round of funding.

In this round four grants of up to £5,000 are available to projects in both Hastings and Rother boroughs, making a potential total of  £40,000. Projects need to be focused towards the start-up or development of physical food spaces. The closing date for applications is Friday 2 September. Decisions will be made by a grant panel and successful organisations will be notified by Friday 23 September.

The Hastings & Rother Food Network is a collaboration of food-related organisations, businesses, individuals and community partners who are working together to tackle food insecurity in our town. It is facilitated and administered by Hastings Voluntary Action.

“As we see the price of everybody’s shopping basket going up, many people will struggle to feed themselves and their families,” said HVA director Steve Manwaring. “It is more important than ever that support is provided for those that need it.

“HVA are really pleased to be involved in the roll-out of these small grant programmes. Having witnessed the impact of the projects funded in round 1, it really does demonstrate what a difference these grants can make in our community.”

First round

In the first round of funding, projects supported included Karmabank, who launched a food pantry at Chapel Park Community Centre, cookery courses delivered by Bags of Taste and Hastings HEART’s ‘Chatty Cafes’. The grants have been funded by East Sussex County Council Public Health via the Household Support Fund.

“Thanks to The Hasting & Rother Food Network grant, we were able to properly test-run our Karmabank Community Kitchen & Food Support,” Rima Sams from Karmabank explained.

“The grant allowed us to pay Fareshare (Sussex) for our weekly delivery of redistributed fresh surplus fruit and veg and to cover our rent at The Chapel Park Community Centre. We are now without any doubt whatsoever that the need for food support in Hastings is very high indeed!”

More information here or contact Debby Anderson on debby@hastingsvoluntaryaction.org.uk.

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