Wandsworth Council awards grants for community groups to provide cost of living support  

Vulnerable people will get more support this winter as Wandsworth Council announces additional grants for local community and voluntary groups.   

The money will help fund community-based programmes that provide hot meals, cut fuel costs, give free legal advice, provide warm spaces, offer mental health support and more.  

Battersea-based Waste Not Want Not Battersea uses fruit and vegetables donated by New Covent Garden Market and local businesses to provide the community with meals. Found Hadas Hagos said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you for the continued support we’ve been receiving from Wandsworth Council.  

“This funding is essential for making our work easier and smoother so we have the capacity to expand the days we give out food. We will be cooking 250 meals on Christmas Day to be sent out to vulnerable people in our community.”  

Toby Costin from CREW Energy said their grant would help with their work giving advice to local people to cut fuel bills. “We are very grateful to the council for this grant, which will enable us to extend our energy café service at the Climate Hub at Southside Shopping Centre for another six months. We will also be precuring two electric bikes that will allow the team to travel more efficiently between home visits. “   

The ‘Capacity Building Grants’ are one element of a £5m package of support from the council to help local communities struggling to make ends meet, which also includes crisis payments and winter cost of living payments.  Visit the Cost of Living Hub.    

Council leader Cllr Simon Hogg said: “We believe organisations in the heart of their communities are best placed to support local people. Our priority is to create a fairer, more compassionate borough by targeting money where it is most needed. Our £5m Cost of Living package is funded from the council’s reserves so it won’t have an impact on your council tax. 

“We received some really strong applications for Capacity Building Grants, and we hope that this round of funding will help some of our most vulnerable residents cope this winter.   

The full list of recipients are:  

• The South West London Law Centres to enable them to continue to provide free or low cost legal advice and representation to people on low incomes.   
• The Wandsworth Foodbank to lease an electric van for collecting donated food and delivering emergency food supplies to people in hardship who are unable to get to a food bank centre because of disability or ill-health.
• The Earlsfield Foodbank to expand services and provide printed information to clients  
• Rackets Cubed, to buy healthy food and pay for additional staff time to run a food box scheme supporting needy families in Roehampton and Battersea.  
• Waste Not Want Not to expand its food support service.   
• Be Enriched Elements to pay for energy, fuel and other costs for its Tooting Canteen for people in need of a hot meal.   
• Sound Minds which provides arts-based mental health support. The grant will fund a weekly lunch club and warm space for clients, many of whom are isolated and on benefits.   
• St Michael’s Church, Wandsworth Common to restore windows so that organisations including Regenerate RISE can continue to use the space.  
• CDARS community drug and alcohol service to help fund its community kitchen helping people with multiple and complex problems.   
• CREW Energy to expand its energy efficiency advice sessions.  
• Regenerate.com for cooking workshops for young people.  
• Generate Opportunities Ltd Social Opportunities Programme, which tackles social isolation for people with a learning disability. The grant will support its work helping local young people through the cost of living crisis.   
• Holy Trinity Parish, enabling a network of churches to offer welcoming and warm spaces this winter