COVID-19 lockdowns might have changed how many of us live our lives, but the Beddington Community Benefit Fund has continued to support charities across Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton, donating £92,537.75 to 15 projects since March 2020. This brings the total funding to £185,889 since 2016.

The Beddington Energy Recovery Facility in Sutton supports the households of the four London boroughs of Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton to transform non-recyclable waste into enough energy to power c. 57,000 homes and divert this material away from landfill. Associated with the ERF is a £1m community benefit fund for projects in the four boroughs to access grants to help their projects flourish over coming decades. Projects within a 2km radius of the Beddington ERF can apply for up to £30,000 and projects within the four boroughs are eligible for up to £5,000.

Some of these projects have been located just on the fringes of the site, including a £30,000 donation to Beddington infant school for installation of a solar dome to allow for learning to continue outside the classroom. The Croydon Foodbank was also successful in an application for just over £10,000 to buy a new van to help expand the reach of their deliveries and support for communities.

Samuel Ackah co-ordinator for the Croydon Foodbank said of their funding: “We are over the moon with the support we have received from the Beddington community fund. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to think differently about how we operate, and the funding has enabled us to buy a van for us to now offer direct pick up and drop off to limit the contact donators and our customers need to have with our team. The van has transformed our work and we are now able to our services much wider across the London Borough of Croydon.”

The Sutton Community Farm was successful with a second application to the fund, this time for £5,000 to contribute towards a larger project to build a much bigger barn at the Farm following a period of sustained growth with the project. Each month the Sutton Community Farm provides vegetable boxes for 600 members of the local community along with produce for some of London’s most notable restaurants.

Sutton Nightwatch, a homeless charity set up to provide support and raise awareness of homeless people in Sutton was successful in receiving more than £8,000 to provide security and fire safety enhancements to its centre in Wallington.

Andy Fulker, director at Sutton Nightwatch added: “We would like to thank the Beddington community fund for their support of our work, we have seen that the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted some of the most vulnerable in our community especially hard. Our centre in Wallington offers access to online job and health services, showers, clothes washing and a kitchen. It is essential our facilities are safe, compliant and offer protection for our users, this funding will ensure we can continue operating to support vulnerable people each month in Sutton.”

Mike Stafford, Head of Contracts for Viridor in the South East and member of Funding Panel noted: “2020 has been a challenging year, but it has been fantastic to see the resilience, ongoing hard work and opportunities that community projects are offering around the Beddington ERF. Despite all of the disruption that lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions have imposed on our lives, the projects we have funded this year give hope that normality will return, and new activities will continue to grow the sense of community in south London. I look forward to being able to visit some of the projects when it is safe to do so.”

Applications for the Beddington Community Benefit Fund remain open and the panel would welcome expressions of interest to be sent to the fund administrator at: beddingtonerfcommunityfund@viridor.co.uk

Watch a video about the food bank donation.

For further information please contact:

communications@Viridor.co.uk

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