Emergency COVID-19 response funding

• £95,000 in rapid emergency COVID-19 funding is set to be released by the Heathrow Community Trust (HCT), an independent charity funded by Heathrow Airport and supported by its colleagues and partners
• Funding has been released from HCT reserves to help keep vital community services running, including food banks and support services for the isolated and vulnerable
• Heathrow continues to provide educational resources to local schools and has redeployed Heathrow Community Rangers to assist with delivering donations to local food banks

The Heathrow Community Trust (HCT) is granting £95,000 in rapid emergency funding for local community groups responding to COVID-19. Funding from HCT reserves – generated by fundraising efforts from Heathrow colleagues in 2019 – will be used to support projects including transitioning support services online and equipping the elderly with technology to help stay connected with friends and family.

Support will be issued to organisations who have a current active HCT-funded project and are providing vital care to the most vulnerable. Round 1 funding has been deployed to the following projects:

• Thames Hospice, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire – £5,000 to fund emergency PPE equipment for an emergency isolation ward treating COVID-19 patients.
• The Manor Friends Care Home, Windsor – £2,050 for the purchase of android tables for use by elderly patients to communicate with relatives and loved ones.
• ​Business Education Events, Ealing £960.00 to help purchase new computers and equipment to develop online programmes for young people stuck at home.
• The Baby Bank, Berkshire and surrounds – £2,500 to purchase care essentials including nappies, formula, baby food and wipes.
• East to West, Runnymede – £2,500 to provide care and support for vulnerable children, young people and families via phone and online.
• Education & Skills Development Group,  Southall – £3,000 to support elderly and isolated members of the community such as Somali refugees, and other asylum seekers.
• Our Lady of Sorrows and St Bridget of Sweden,  Isleworth – £2,500 to provide help, advice and emotional support via telephone, conference calls, social media briefings; including support for those with loved ones in hospital and those needing funeral arrangements.
• Vineyard Community Centre, Richmond – £2,500 to deliver food parcels to vulnerable people in their homes.
• Beat Routes, Slough – £1,000 to move music workshops for young people to online.
• Engineering Development Trust, across all nine boroughs neighbouring Heathrow – £2,500 for developing STEM engagement activities for use in schools for children of key workers, and online for home schooling.

Commenting on the release of funding support, Director of the Heathrow Community Trust Beccy Bowden, said:

“This funding is providing much-needed support to our neighbouring community groups who are working tirelessly to keep local people safe and healthy. The only way to get through this challenging time is by maintaining our strong community spirit and offering as much support as we can to one another. 

Thanking the HCT, Thames Hospice Fundraiser Frances Greany, said:

“We really appreciate the Trust's support at this very difficult time. It will make such a difference to our doctors and nurses as they support patients in the coming weeks and months.”

Manor Friends Care Home Treasurer Sue Litton, said:

“An immense thank you to the review panel for granting us the funds. We’ve experienced a greatly increased number of phone calls coming from relatives anxious to speak with their loved ones. This tied up the phone lines significantly and limited staff’s ability to attend to essential care matters.

The HCT’s COVID-19 emergency response funding will continue to be awarded on a weekly basis while the reserve funds are available.

Emergency funding from the Trust is in addition to a number of initiatives exercised by Heathrow and its partners, to support the local community through the global COVID-19 outbreak, including a donation of 6,000 FFP3 respiratory face masks to NHS teams working at Thames Valley Air Ambulance and Hillingdon Hospital. Heathrow Community Rangers have also been redeployed to support some of Heathrow’s local communities, including delivering donations to local food banks, while online educational resources have been made available to schools and parents via the Heathrow website.

Round 2 of this fund awarded funding of £21,856.31 has been deployed to the following projects:

• Home Start, Ealing - £2,250 to offer phone and online support to families, including doorstep drop offs of emergency supplies especially nappies, wipes, formula and sanitary products.
• PACT, Reading - £1,006.31 to adapt and extend the services PACT provide through their women’s community project, Alana House, to meet the needs of vulnerable women at most risk, such as those experiencing homelessness or unstable accommodation; those struggling with mental health, particularly self-harm; and those who are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse.
• St George's Youth Club, Feltham - £5,000 to maintain weekly support group for young people with mental health issues by moving it online, and to support phone support of vulnerable young people.
• Learn English at Home (LEAH), Kingston, Richmond and Hounslow  - £1,000 to set up a confidential phone based ESOL crisis service for trained and vetted LEAH volunteers to keep in touch with up to 60 Hounslow & Richmond based vulnerable clients with very low levels of English and underlying health conditions.
• Sight for Surrey - £1,100 to support development of BSL videos for deaf and hard of hearing to ensure they have access to advice and guidance on how to stay safe during COCID-19 outbreak.
• SPEAR, SW London - £5,000 for Personal Protective Equipment (hand sanitisers, disposable masks, coveralls, nitrile gloves, surface sanitiser) to protect the health of frontline workers and homeless people in the community, either rough sleeping or in accommodation projects.
• Stanwell Events - £2,500 to support extra food distribution and resource packs to children at home.
• Denham United Football Club (£1,500) and Pinkneys Green Cricket Club (£2,500) – receiving funding to ‘keep the lights’, a project helping to replace money lost from subscriptions which players cannot afford, which will be used to keep club going until a new playing season.

Round 3 of awarded funded has been deployed to the following projects:

• Mapis CIC – £2,500 to provide training and support online to young people in Windsor & Maidenhead to help tackle the problem of social isolation.
• Delight - £4,993.15 to provide 435 primary school children in Spelthorne & Runnymede with boxes of resources and projects to be usable by primary school children with no adult support required.
• Ujala Foundation - £2,100 to provide emergency food to people in Slough who are self-isolating.
• Stanwell Food Bank - £3200 to provide a new freezer and support costs of providing emergency food for people self-isolating in Stanwell.