"The Bernicia project has really helped me and my family during this time of uncertainty. We all enjoyed a packed lunch meal which we otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford and then worked on an Arts & Crafts activity together as a family, the kids loved it!"
The Bernicia project aims to help support over 800 people within East Durham by handing out packed lunches containing bread, ham, cheese, butter, yoghurts, fruit, crisps and biscuits along with an arts & crafts activity for the whole family.
The project was funded to help people across East Durham during the coronavirus pandemic, who may find themselves in financial hardship and struggling to provide for their families.
Foundation support helps families through lockdown
Support from the Bernicia Foundation helped feed and provide arts and crafts activities for more than 900 people from County Durham during lockdown.
A grant of £6,250 ensured the East Durham Trust was able to deliver packed lunches and activity packs to households hit hard by the pandemic.
Parcels containing a loaf of bread, ham, cheese, crisps, biscuits and fruit were distributed to hundreds of families by volunteers from the Lisa Dixon Centre, Haswell, and Dawdon Youth and Community Centre in Seaham.
Bernicia, which created the £1m Bernicia Foundation to help organisations promoting financial and social inclusion, moved quickly to make £200,000 of foundation funding immediately available to tackle hardship caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Funding was distributed to eight local authorities who used their local knowledge to ensure it quickly reached those able to deliver targeted help to people in need.
The Peterlee-based East Durham Trust is home to one of the North East’s longest established foodbanks and has seen a huge rise in demand from families struggling financially or simply finding it difficult to access supplies.
Its team has provided more than 6,000 people with food parcels since lockdown began in March. The trust forecasts that demand for its services will only continue to grow during winter.
