AGENDA
DEADLINE APPROACHING Grant focus: Welsh
Water Community Fund Are you planning to spruce up an outside area of your school, or do you have ideas for a wellbeing or sustainability project? If Welsh Water is your supplier or has been working in your area, this could help bring your proposals to fruition.
Funder: Welsh Water Value: Up to £5,000
‘Our pantry is a lifeline for struggling parents’
Our PTFA at St Michael’s CofE Primary wanted to help families who were struggling to make ends meet. We started working with a food bank to compile boxes of staple items that families could take home just before the school holidays, to help with the extra cost of feeding their kids. Families told us they needed
additional food all the time, so we got back in touch with the food bank and suggested setting up a ‘pantry’ at the school during term times, so parents could choose bits whenever they needed them. We set up the pantry in an old
changing room. When asking for donations, we aim for the kind of staples families might need in the kitchen to cook a reasonable meal. We’ve got a lot of pasta in there as well as tinned tomatoes, tinned veg, baked beans, pulses, cereals and flour. Items need to be non-perishable, as we don’t have a fridge. We also stock toilet paper and sanitary products. After a while, we realised it
wasn’t just feeding their children that parents were struggling with – a lot couldn’t afford to buy Christmas or birthday presents. Now one side of the pantry looks a bit like a toy shop, with shelves full of donated gifts. We get items
from local businesses who have surplus stock, and other families donate unwanted presents. The pantry is run by a sub-
group of the PTFA. Parents can only access it through the family liaison officer, which is good because it means we know our pantry is being used by those most in need, and parents can remain anonymous. We go in once a week to check on stock levels. The pantry isn’t funded by the
PTFA – everything is either a donation or paid for by grants we have secured specifically for the pantry. We’ve received some grants from the local authority, and we’ve been lucky with applying to businesses for grants. There are quite a lot of grants based around the cost of living that you can apply for. The pantry has had a massive
effect. Some parents must choose between feeding their children or buying petrol to get them to school – it has them in tears. Maybe all we’ve done is give them a few bags of pasta, but it’s dinner on the table and full bellies, and it really does make a difference. Michelle Picton, St Michael’s CofE Primary PTFA, Stoke Gifford (638 pupils)
Deadline: The next deadline is 28 February, but don’t worry, there are two more deadlines this year, at the end of June and October
Details: Registered charities and schools can apply to the Welsh Water Community Fund for funding for projects that improve the environment and/or promote health and wellbeing. Local education activities that have water efficiency, environmental and innovation benefits are favoured. Priority is given to projects taking place in areas where Welsh Water has been or is working. For more information and the online application form, go to corporate.
dwrcymru.com/en/community/community- projects/community-fund
FIND MORE GRANTS
at
funded.org.uk
WISE WORDS
‘Nothing has ever been achieved by
the person who says: “It can’t be done”’ Eleanor Roosevelt
School Fundraising SPRING 2025 9
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