Four organisations in Copeland have been allocated grants totalling £341,816 by the Copeland Community Fund Board which will benefit residents.

Copeland Age and Advice Service CIC was awarded £150,000; £121,100 went to Hospice at Home West Cumbria; £40,000 will fund a place at Cumbria Exchange and £30,716 will go to Time to Share Bereavement Services CIC.

Emma Moynihan, CCF Fund Manager said: "We are really proud of the community groups that we have been funding and thank them for their support and all the work they do."

Helen Conway is co-ordinator of Cumbria Exchange, which is an exchange initiative with a number of partners which brings the community and the private sector together in a two-way system. Funding will continue their work after their funding ran out at the end of August. Helen said: "I just think it’s excellent that CCF have recognised the need to support community business activities. Over the last few months we have supported some of the charities delivering frontline responsibility during covid, such as credit unions, because they were not set up to do virtual services."

Hospice at Home West Cumbria has received a three year grant to deliver emotional wellbeing, anticipatory grief and bereavement support. The funding will support patients in Copeland with a life limiting condition and their families. People and family members referred to the charity will receive emotional support through one-to-one and group sessions and complementary therapies.

Brendon Cook, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said “We are absolutely thrilled to receive this extremely generous grant from The Copeland Community Fund to help us support local people. We know the huge emotional impact a life limiting diagnosis can make on patients and their loved ones, and this funding will give us the confidence to plan our services and enable our Family and Bereavement Support team to care for Copeland residents when they need it most. We would encourage anyone experiencing a life limiting diagnosis to contact our clinical teams for information about our services and how we can support them. We very much look forward to working with The Copeland Community Fund so that together, we can provide emotional help for people during their most challenging times.”

Emma added: “The Copeland Community Fund Board was concerned to hear of the impact of Covid-19 on Hospice At Home West Cumbria’s fundraising ability and potential impact on service delivery in Copeland. There is no doubt that emotional wellbeing and bereavement support is a much-valued service to Copeland residents and one which the Fund is delighted to support for the next three years.”

Becky Goddard, from the CAAS team, said the funding will enable them to operate for the next three years. She said: "The funding gives us confidence to expand further we are really happy with the support from funders and local councillors have also been very supportive."

Their organisation was only launched last October and they focus on independent living, and enabling people to stay in their homes. They have lots of plans for future dementia support services and possibly a dementia café.

During the pandemic they have diversified to offer befriending services.

Becky added: "Our first year has gone amazingly well, how quickly and successful things have gone for us even with the covid situation." They help people with benefits and assess homes for independent living, with the aim of allowing people to stay at home as much as possible. They can also help with social care options if people are staying at home.

During the covid pandemic they have diversified and taken on befrienders to lonely individuals and done shopping for those self-isolating, and have offered antiboredom packs and dementia packs, putting up several hundred throughout the whole of Cumbria.

They also want to help grow digital support services, getting people active on line and on Facebook and Zoom to keep people included.

They look at providing equipment at a reduced cost such as disability aids and adaptions, which also reduces landfill and provides equipment at a low cost to customers.

Ashley Lloyd from Time to Share Bereavement Services CIC said: "We are over the moon to have their backing. It will enable us to roll out services fully in Copeland for those suffering from loss. We still continue to be led by the children and families that need our services."