A Copeland-based charity has received funding from The Co-operative Bank's Customer Donation Fund.

This funding of £1,000 has enabled Millom Network Centre to provide holiday meals for their meals-on-wheels clients.

The charity, established in 2006 runs various initiatives such as group workshops, a food pantry and two community food stores.

Over recent weeks, staff and volunteers have delivered over 90 meals to local residents left without power due to a snow storm in early December.

The charity also runs a meals-on-wheels service that mainly supports elderly residents.

This service offers a main course and a pudding from Monday to Friday.

Volunteer drivers deliver meals to clients' homes, also conducting checks on vulnerable clients to ensure their wellbeing.

The funding from The Co-operative Bank Customer Donation Fund was crucial for Millom Network Centre this year.

The centre's kitchen usually closes over the Christmas period, leaving them with the challenge of providing hot meals over the festive period.

Sue Dust, office manager at Millom Network Centre said: "The money we have received from The Co-operative Bank Customer Donation Fund has been crucial as it has enabled us to purchase enough meals from Wiltshire Farm Foods to supply every person reliant on our meals-on-wheels service, over Christmas."

She added: "Many of the people who rely on our meals-on-wheels are elderly and, often, vulnerable members of our community, so it was vital that clients didn’t go without our services over the festive closure period.

"Without the funding we simply would not have been able to afford to provide all our clients with meals to cover them during this period.

"The Customer Donation Fund made that possible and allowed us to provide the meals free of charge."

Since the fund was created in 2003, The Co-operative Bank has donated over £1.1 million to more than 1,000 community projects, contributing £100,000 alone this year to help communities facing cost of living issues.

Amelia Burnett, SME product manager at The Co-operative Bank, said: "Supporting our customers, particularly smaller charities and community projects, has never been more important.

"We are proud to have been able to provide these grants to projects across the UK that are positively impacting communities, at a time when many people are facing cost of living challenges."

Applications for the next round of funding are currently open with Community Directplus customers eligible to apply.