Thanks to everyone who joined us on 15th November at a packed Wine Boutique in Felixstowe for our most successful and impactful event yet, our ‘Charity Focus’ evening.
We have received some very positive feedback from the event, such as from Helen Crapnell, Business Development Manager at Gold member, Sackers:
“I have to honestly say, I really do enjoy these events that the Felixstowe Chamber put on. Still in its infancy from being re-born after Covid, they have managed to create a really warm business community network that support and promote each other – with a belly full of laughs.
“Can’t recommend the Chamber enough if you have business connections in and around Felixstowe.”
Cllr Sharon Harkin, Mayor of Felixstowe and the town’s Communities Officer, spoke passionately about the three local charities that she is supporting during her term – The Compass, Felixstowe Community Hospital League of Friends and Felixstowe Opportunity Group – and how community support makes a real difference to these important causes.
The Compass
The Compass is a Community Hub, and aims to provide holistic, signposting and/or direct intervention to individuals or families, who have been referred or have self-referred, throughout Felixstowe and the local
areas.
The charity believes that families need to be looked at as a whole unit, and that addressing some of the lower-level issues, e.g. poor literacy, money management, food or technical poverty, can alleviate some of the higher-level problems that require professional expertise. By the time help is sought, the issues have been building for a long time.
The Compass works in the community to combat isolation, loneliness, improve mental health and emotional wellbeing, to support those in financial hardship and to encourage educational attainment.
Felixstowe Opportunity Group
Felixstowe Opportunity Group is a local charity, founded in Trimley in 1990 by a dedicated group of mums with children with special educational needs. Its main aim is to advance the education and development of babies and children with special needs and to support their siblings and families.
The charity provides play sessions throughout the year and is open for 48 weeks. The sessions offer safe and supportive group play, provided by qualified staff and committed voluntary helpers.
The charity is organised and run by a voluntary Management Committee, still mainly made up of parents and family members of children with special educational needs.
Felixstowe Community Hospital League of Friends
The Felixstowe Community Hospital League of Friends seeks to support the Hospital and local health services. It raises funds through local publicity and events, to provide items that the NHS is not always able to make easily available itself. Whilst this includes technical equipment, it also includes items that make any patient’s stay better and improve the working environment of staff.
It also works closely with Hospital staff and the NHS Trust, petitioning to ensure that the Hospital retains the valuable healthcare services that our community and visitors to Felixstowe need. For instance, the Mayor highlighted how the charity is fighting to bring X-ray and ultrasound facilities back to the town.
Suffolk Community Foundation
We also welcomed Henry Tapp of Suffolk Community Foundation (SCF), who shared with us the excellent work that the Foundation does in supporting Suffolk good causes, ensuring that the donations made in our county benefit our county. Henry reported the astonishing fact that nearly 80% of Suffolk’s charitable gifts leave the county!
SCF only works across Suffolk, and has allocated £40 million in grants across the county since its inception in 2005. The Foundation administers 170 donor-led funds, which are drawn from public, private and corporate donations.
The average grant size is generally between £2,000 and £5,000 and a large number of these go to smaller charities that have very small operating budgets. A key vision for the charity is to help make Suffolk a better place for all, changing local lives by connecting causes that matter with people who care.
SCF has recently launched its 12th ‘Surviving Winter Appeal’, with a three-pronged focus on ‘fuel, food and support’. With many people already facing problems due to rapid increases in the cost of living, this year’s campaign has been extended and renamed ‘Suffolk Cost of Living Surviving Winter Appeal’.
In 2021/22, the Appeal raised nearly £250,000 and provided warmth and other vital financial advice and support to over 1,800 households across Suffolk.
Members and supporters of the Port Community Fund also joined us to explain why they work so closely with SCF and to outline the valuable community benefits that it provides.
To find out more about the Foundation, you can contact Henry on 01473 944732 /
[email protected] or visit the website at www.suffolkcf.org.uk
Thanks also to Committee and Gold Member Colin Low of Kingsfleet for sponsoring the event (delicious wines, meats and cheeses – well done to all at the wonderful Wine Boutique!) and for giving us a valuable insight into his own work with the Foundation.
Colin reminded us that businesses and business people have the power to do good in their communities, and he encouraged us to think back to days gone by, when local benefactors provided support to those in need by donating water fountains to their communities.
Sadly, Colin lost his seemingly-healthy business partner, Gary Gladwell, in April this year, at the age of just 35, and he has worked with the Foundation to set up a Fund in his memory.
“I felt that this was the right thing to do to help other people”, says Colin. Gary’s Fund will work to promote children’s mental and physical health through sport and education.
As a Chamber, we can only do what we do with the support of the local business community, and it means a lot to all of us to have such overwhelming support for these very worthy causes.
If you would like to sign up for any future Chamber events, or would like to learn more about what membership can offer you and your business, please get in touch with Amanda Oliver, Business Officer, at [email protected]