Stockport’s Vernon Building Society has announced the 10 Community Stars that will share its £5,000 community fund in the final quarter of 2022.
Voted for by members of the public, the following charities and not-for-profits have been awarded a share of the pot, as follows:
- The Garden House Marple Charity – £1,000
- Romiley Marina Swimming Club (RMSC) – £1,000
- Handy Ladies Feeding The Community CIC – £650
- Bare Necessities Toiletry Bank – £550
- Supportability – £450
- Stockport Canal Boat Trust – £350
- Autisk – £300
- Pursuing Individual Excellence (PIE) – £250
- Jump Space – £250
- Mentell – £200
Jeremy Lawson, chair of the Romiley Marina Swimming Club committee, said: “This gift will really help our club at a time when we most need it. We’re a small community club with big ambitions and members based across Stockport.
“We are hugely grateful to Vernon Building Society because, with this money, we’ll be able to train three new young swimming teachers.”
Janet Bennett, founder ofAutisk, which supports families of children with disabilities and educational needs, added: “This money from Vernon will help enormously. We’re running four children’s social groups a week in Stockport and our rent is high.
“We had funding up until March and this award means we can run for another month until April. Like many local charities, we’re struggling to access funding and every bit really helps.”
£12,000 Community Stars Fund shared in 2022
Vernon launched its new community funding scheme, Community Stars, this year to help more Stockport charities and not-for-profit groups.
It has now shared its annual fund of £12,000 between 21 groups throughout 2022, with 51 applications to date.
Community Stars are chosen by members of the society, colleagues, and the public, plus Vernon donated £2,000 from the fund to support the people of Ukraine through the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).
Steve Fletcher, CEO of the Society, said: “We love supporting these wonderful local organisations through our Community Stars scheme and, by sharing our fund regularly throughout the year, we’ve been able to help more groups, including larger charities and smaller not-for-profits.
“As Stockport’s local Building Society, we’re committed to finding, recognisingand supportingmore of the real stars in our community during 2023.”
Find out more about the awards and apply online from January 2023 at http://www.thevernon.co.uk/community-stars/
