Refugees who have escaped with their lives from war-torn countries have spoken of their appreciation to Cumbrians after finding sanctuary here.

Families from countries including Ukraine, Afghanistan and Syria have been helped to settle with grants from Cumbria Community Foundation’s Welcome Fund.

In many cases the grants have paid for essentials such as children’s clothes.

Andy Beeforth, Chief Executive of Cumbria Community Foundation, said Cumbrians have made a huge difference.

“It has been wonderful to see the generosity of Cumbrians in helping refugees and asylum seekers who have come to the county after being forced from their homes,” said Andy.

“We established the Welcome Fund at the request of the local councils, charities and churches when the UK Government agreed to welcome refugees fleeing war in Syria. Further events, including the war in Ukraine has created a growing need and, as a result of generous donations, we have been able to help many desperate families as they attempt to adapt to their new circumstances and homes in Cumbria.

“I would very much encourage any Cumbrians who are able, to make a donation to the Welcome Fund, large or small. As the testimony we have received from these families shows, it can make a real difference.”

Youssef Abadi was shot in his right arm, stomach and foot while sitting outside his house in Syria. The bullets are still in his body: an unwanted legacy of the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011.

Youssef and his wife Aisha managed to escape their country. They spent several years at a refugee camp in Lebanon before coming to Penrith four years ago. The couple and their three sons have been made extremely welcome in Cumbria. “The people are very friendly,” says Aisha. “They are very helpful in helping me to learn English.”

Aisha is hoping to enrol on a hair and beauty course. Youssef was a lorry driver in Syria. His wounds cause ongoing pain and health problems, which make it hard to find work. “People are very nice here,” he says. “Our neighbours called an ambulance to take me to hospital when I was ill.”

Further support came from the Welcome Fund. The family received £750: £150 for each person. This was spent on clothes – mainly for the children – food, and on transporting Youssef to and from Wigan, where he went for hospital treatment.

Aisha and Youssef miss their friends and family in Syria. “I haven’t seen my family for 11 years,” says Aisha. “When I speak to my mum on the phone, I always cry.”

Roqia Hashimi and her family fled for their lives from Afghanistan when the country was seized by the Taliban in 2021. “My husband was in the Afghan army when the Taliban took control,” says Roqia, who was pregnant with her 18-month-old son Amir at the time.

The family, which also includes son Mustafa, and daughter Marwa, both in primary school, arrived in Penrith in 2022. “They are good people,” says Roqia of the Cumbrians who have made her family so welcome. “They ask if they can help us. There are no other Afghans in Penrith. It can feel lonely. Our neighbours are very important to us.”

The family received £750 from the Welcome Fund. Most of it was spent on winter clothes. Roqia used some of it to buy spectacles. She is hoping to learn to drive. That would be impossible in Afghanistan. Under the Taliban, women are now banned from many public spaces.

Svitlana Semiamista – “Lana” to her friends in Cumbria – managed to leave Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, with her son, Vov, who was then aged 7, a few days after Russian troops invaded the country in February 2022. She came to Lazonby that August, staying with a local woman who had volunteered for the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Lana is now renting a house in the village. She is a lawyer with a PhD in philosophy and worked in Kyiv’s high court as an assistant to a judge. In Cumbria she took a job as a cleaner in a local pub, and now cleans at Bells of Lazonby. “One day I came home from working in the pub,” she recalls. “There was a card with £200, from a neighbour: ‘Maybe this will help with things for the house.’ It’s amazing. People are very kind.” Her fridge and washing machine were bought by neighbours. Cumbria Community Foundation’s Welcome Fund provided £150 each for her and Vov, which was spent on clothes.

Lana plans to stay in Lazonby at least until Vov has finished primary school. He is happy here, as is Lana – when she can put events back home out of her mind. “It’s difficult to work as a cleaner after 20 years as a lawyer. I have more chance of a good job in Ukraine. But I don’t know when the war will stop. I must build my new life, step by step.”

To apply individuals and families must be supported by a recognised professional such as a caseworker, faith leader, support worker, representative of a support organisation or a host family.

The Welcome Fund prioritises relief of hardship where it is not covered by Government support, initiatives which support resettlement including access to education and work, and initiatives which promote community integration and reduce social isolation.

To donate to the Welcome Fund, click here or call 01900 825760

*Names of the Abadi family have been changed

Older people living in south Cumbria are thriving, thanks to a dedicated mission to make the area more socially inclusive.

As members of the UK Network of Age Friendly Communities, Cumbria Community Foundation is working with residents and key partners to develop a local approach to becoming an age-friendly borough.

Age Friendly is a global scheme, based on the World Health Organisation’s Age Friendly Communities framework – creating social and built environments that promote healthy and active later lives for all.

Cumbria is defined as having a “super-ageing” population, which means the number of older residents is increasing, while the number of younger residents is decreasing.

A private donor has given the initial capital to Cumbria Community Foundation to establish Age Friendly South Lakeland and employ an Age Friendly coordinator for a two year period. Further funding was also received from the Morecambe Bay CCG Population Health Fund.

Katie Gatt’s new role as Age Friendly coordinator will see her engage with the community, raising awareness of the opportunities, events and activities on offer. She also works with older residents to shape the community, identifying where there might be gaps.

Katie said: “I’m really looking forward to embracing this new role. Working with our older residents is a real honour, they have so many interesting stories to tell. It’ll be great to be able to help make their futures a little easier”.

When setting up an Age Friendly community, the first six months involves direct engagement with the people of all ages who live there, to identify priorities and create an action plan. In South Lakeland a steering group has been set up, to ensure it is driven by the very community it is creating.

As part of the scheme, there are other opportunities to get grant funding for smaller and larger initiatives.

October 1 was International Day of Older Persons and, to coincide with that, an Age Friendly Festival was held in Kendal Leisure Centre.

Organisations and partners were invited to network before the doors opened to the public between 11.30am and 3pm.

The festival showcased what is on offer in the South Lakeland area, helping signpost people to the different relevant agencies and gave visitors the chance to try their hand at activities such as walking netball, Boccia, New Age Kurling, Swimming and much more.

More than 20 organisations attended with representatives from Active Cumbria, Kendal Library, Carer Support South Lakes, Age UK South Lakeland along with Mayor of Kendal Julie Dunlop and the High Sheriff of Cumbria, Samantha Scott.

Whitehaven-based Shepley Engineers, which celebrates its 75th birthday this year, set up its Shepley Group Fund with Cumbria Community Foundation in 2011. Since then, the fund has awarded grants totalling £105,910 to 72 different organisations, mostly in West Cumbria.

The grants have helped thousands of local children and adults supported by smaller, grassroots charities and community organisations covering homelessness, substance abuse, physical and mental health, disability, arts, sport, the environment, education, youth social action, social inclusion and community development.

The latest three grants, awarded this summer to The Vulture Club, Team Evie and The Windmill Trust, sent the Shepley Group Fund’s award total over the £100,000 mark, and are typical of the grassroots work the group, which consists of Shepley Engineering and its subsidiaries West Cumberland Engineering and PPS Electrical, wants to support.

The Vulture Club in Whitehaven offers creative arts and a place to meet in a safe and fun setting to support people recovering from addiction or trauma. Its £2,000 grant will help with the rent at its new premises in Tangier Street.

West Cumbrian charity Team Evie supports sick children and their families when they are in hospital in Cumbria and the North East, at home after hospital, or in need of bereavement support. Its £2,000 grant will go towards salary costs of its newly developed peer support service.

The Windmill Trust supports children and young people in the Wigton area who have encountered adverse childhood experiences and who are not able to access statutory support. Their £2,000 grant will expand their creative therapy services into the wider West Cumbria area.

David Henderson, Nuclear Business Manager at Shepley Engineers, visited The Vulture Club with Cumbria Community Foundation’s Director of Programmes & Partnerships, Jenny Benson, to see the impact the company’s grants make on the organisations, and the people they support.

“It was great to visit the Vulture Club, meet its co-ordinator Kelly, and talk to the people who are actually benefiting from using the facility and from the support they get from the team who run it,” said David.

“It really brings it home how much initiatives like this are needed in our communities, and the real difference they make to people’s lives.

“Along with celebrating our 75th anniversary this year, surpassing £100,000 of grants awarded, is another milestone worth celebrating. We target the smaller grassroots groups, as these are the ones who often struggle to find the funding they need to provide vitally important support to local people. We are proud to be able to celebrate this milestone, and look forward to continuing to work with the Cumbria Community Foundation long into the future.”

The Shepley Group Fund was set up as an endowed fund with Cumbria Community Foundation in 2011, with an initial lump sum of £89,000, to which further donations have been added to over time. This money has been invested and the earnings have been used to award grants to local charitable groups. This has resulted in £105,910 of grants being awarded – but there is still £171,000 of capital funding which continues to be invested. The benefit of an endowed fund is that it is permanent and can benefit communities over the longer term.

David Henderson said: “I thoroughly recommend setting up an endowment fund with Cumbria Community Foundation. They have a professional team and are well governed with a structured approach to providing support to disadvantaged people.

“We are continuously adding to our endowment fund, and it is consistently growing and will go on in perpetuity supporting people and groups in our communities who need it. It is a great way to make a difference over the long term, support those most in need, and deliver a real positive impact to people’s lives.”

Jenny Benson said: “The Foundation is delighted to support Shepley’s charitable giving over the last decade. They are truly leading the way in terms of their generous commitment to local communities, making significant financial investment in small, local charities and committing to long-term, flexible funding. We know just how much this means to the charities and community groups benefiting from these grants.”

Shepley Engineers, based in the Old Town Hall in Whitehaven’s Duke Street, is Sellafield’s longest-serving continuous contractor, and this year celebrates its 75th anniversary. In 1948 it began work on stainless ducting on the Windscale Piles, and was involved in the commissioning of the world’s first commercial nuclear power plant, Calder Hall.

More recently the group have been working on Britain’s next generation nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C, and its specialist restoration division has led on the iron restoration of Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) and the Houses of Parliament.

Ten community groups in Cumbria have received grants to help vulnerable people access the internet and digital technology.

The funding has come from Full Fibre broadband company Fibrus, which launched the Fibrus Community Fund Cumbria in April in partnership with Cumbria Community Foundation.

Fibrus is donating £60,000 this year, across Cumbria, to tackle digital poverty, with a particular focus on those aged 18 and under and the over-60s. This coincides with Fibrus rolling out high-speed broadband connections to homes across the county.

Carlisle Sight Support is a charity supporting the visually impaired across north Cumbria with satellite groups in Brampton, Dalston and Longtown.

The group received funding to buy Echo Dot smart speakers and run training and awareness-raising sessions, helping the visually impaired make the most of the technology.

Manager Mark Costello said: “We were looking at technological solutions and the Fibrus Community Fund gave us the impetus and the money to go ahead and purchase the items.

“These speakers make such a difference. Visually impaired people can use them to listen to music, turn lights and appliances on and off and to access talking books and newspapers and it can be vital in helping them stay connected to family and friends.”

Dean Jooste, Stakeholder Director at Fibrus, visited the group for its monthly lunchtime social get together and helped demonstrate the smart speakers.

“They soon got the knack of asking questions and were quizzing Alexa about the weekend’s weather, Carlisle United and rugby internationals.

Michelle Lynam enjoyed her first chat with Alexa. “It was quite daunting at first but I’ll get used to it. I like rugby so it was good to be able to get information quickly about the world cup.”

Dean said: “We saw a real need in Cumbria to address digital poverty, and through the Fibrus Community Fund, we heard from some fantastic organisations. By enabling those in need to access computers and online services, we can boost the opportunities of youngsters and improve the quality of life for older people.

“It is important to us that while we’re bringing the people of Cumbria high speed connections, we continue to invest money to support our communities.”

Jenny Benson, director of programmes and partnerships at Cumbria Community Foundation, added: “The grants provided by the Fibrus Community Fund can be life changing.

“They can pay for devices that help young people with schoolwork or to apply for their first job, for example, and enable older people to access online services and stay connected with family and friends through Skype or Zoom.”

The Fibrus Fund has given to 10 organisations in its first round of grants including Friends of Shap School; Drop Zone Youth Projects in Barrow; Hallbankgate Hub and the Carnegie Theatre Trust.

Fibrus is transforming digital infrastructure by investing more than £700 million to bring full-fibre broadband to towns and villages across Northern England and Northern Ireland.

The company recently announced two new connectable locations in the local area as part of its ongoing rollout; Aspatria and Workington, on top of the first homes in Staveley connected under the Government’s Project Gigabit contract earlier this year.

Fibrus has demonstrated its support for Cumbrian communities this year by launching a fund for grassroots clubs across the regions it serves, which invests over £30,000 in boys’ and girls’ sport.

The company also sponsored the new Fibrus 100 girls’ cricket league in partnership with Cumbria Cricket and announced a sponsorship with Workington Town Rugby League in July, with the team’s home ground renamed to the Fibrus Community Stadium.

The second round of funding for the Fibrus Community Fund has opened for applications today, Monday, August 21, closing on November 10, and organisations from across Cumbria are encouraged to apply.

Seven inspiring young West Cumbrians, who started their own businesses, have been praised for their nous and ingenuity. All seven took part in Positive Enterprise, an initiative from Cumbria Community Foundation and the Centre for Leadership Performance to help young people from Allerdale and Copeland go into business.

Their achievements were recognised at a celebratory event at Lakes College, Workington, to mark the end of the first year of the programme.

All participants, aged 15 to 25, have received a £1,000 grant, mentoring from an experienced businessperson and performance and leadership development.

Aiden Thompson, 15, from Whitehaven, collected an extra £1,000 after judges were impressed by his presentation. His business, Cumbria Coastal Crafts, produces framed pebble art and customised laser engraved products.

He said: “I saw a gap in the market and it has been very successful. Positive Enterprise helped me take it from an idea to a business. The grant paid for equipment and the mentoring helped me find the best ways to sell the products and explore potential opportunities.”

Rachel McCartney, 24, of Holmrook, had the most ambitious idea. She has set up McCartney Sustainable Solutions to recycle food waste into compost, fertiliser and biofuel, and is in the process of raising £1.2m. She said: “In Cumbria, we are paying £100 a tonne to dispose of food waste in landfill. I thought there were better ways of dealing with it.”

Lennon Glass, 15, from Cockermouth, trades as Artify making customised and bespoke wool rugs. He said: “I do school work on weekdays and make rugs at the weekend. All the rugs are from UK-sourced wool and profits go to the WI.”

Bethany Goodall, 24, of Workington, established the Lake District Academy of Theatre Arts to provide affordable musical theatre workshops. She said: “Having one-to-one sessions with a mentor gave me a real insight into how to sell my idea. I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do that.”

Three of the participants could not be there in person but told their stories through pre-recorded presentations.

Josh Coombe, 15, from Whitehaven, used his grant to buy printing equipment for JC Stitch and Style, which offer fully customisable clothing and mugs.

Luke Eilbeck, 18, of Wigton, has set up Mad4Kit selling vintage secondhand football memorabilia while studying for his A-levels.

And Jack Fleming, 19, from Whitehaven, runs JF Entertainment, a mobile DJ service, which has expanded thanks to Positive Enterprise.

The guest speaker was Sally Phillips, founder of Chimney Sheep in Workington, which makes draught excluders from Herdwick wool. She offered advice and encouragement to the participants.

“I’ve always taken it one step at a time, and now I employ 14 people with a turnover of £2.2m,” Sally said. “It’s not always been fun and games, things do go wrong, but I just ride the wave. I hope you all have adventures as well.”

David Beeby, Chair of Cumbria Community Foundation, added: “We’ve heard different stories from different personalities with different approaches. Every one of them was very impressive. I wish the young entrepreneur all luck in what they’re doing. Business is hard work but you need luck as well.”

Cumbria Community Foundation hopes to repeat Positive Enterprise in 2024.

The programme is funded by the Cumbria-based property developer Brian Scowcroft with match funding from Sellafield Ltd as part of its Transforming West Cumbria programme, the Low Level Waste Repository Ltd (LLWR), Well Whitehaven, Morgan Sindall and Kaefer.

Samantha McKenzie, of Nuclear Waste Services, thought it money well spent. She said: “One of the priorities for the LLWR as a funder is to help young people to develop their skills and knowledge and to be the best they can be. Every single one of them has done that.”

And Laurie Crayston, an entrepreneur who acted as a mentor to Josh Coombe, said: “I like to think that I gave him useful pointers. Every issue he encountered was something I’d had to deal with my own business at some point.”

A new initiative to encourage more people into youth work in Cumbria has been hailed as a resounding success and is already transforming lives.

Better Tomorrows was launched by David Beeby, Chair of Cumbria Community Foundation and a former High Sheriff of Cumbria, to address what he describes as a “huge gap” in youth work provision.

In the first year of the three-year programme, over 30 people have participated in the accredited training, 19 organisations have been funded, providing 26 new youth worker roles and nearly 4,000 hours of new youth work has been delivered. You can read the first year evaluation here.

Speaking at a Cumbria Community Foundation event to mark the first anniversary, David said: “I felt that young people had made sacrifices for the older generation in the first year of the Covid pandemic, in terms of their education and opportunities, and we needed to redress that.

“We had conversations about what was missing and came across compelling evidence that quality youth work makes a real difference to the outcomes for young people, yet funding for youth work has been cut dramatically.

“It has been a privilege to try and do something about that. I hope now that youth work is being recognised as a career and as an opportunity.”

Better Tomorrows is investing more than £1 million over three years to pay for accredited youth work training. Alongside the training, which is delivered in-person by Cumbria Youth Alliance, it also offers multi-year grants up to £75,000 to community organisations that set up or provide new youth work opportunities for local people.

More than 70 people attended the celebratory event at the University of Cumbria’s Learning Gateway in Carlisle, a mix of funders, funded organisations and youth workers who have undergone training.

Over 40 funders have contributed to the programme, including the Community Foundation, Francis C Scott Trust, Four Acre Trust, LLWR, many local businesses and the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, which is contributing £75,000.

Mike Johnson, Deputy Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said: “High-quality youth work has a crucial role to play in supporting young people to achieve their potential. They gain confidence and competence, develop self-assurance, and can establish high expectations and aspirations for themselves. This is why it is vital that we provide qualified youth workers across Cumbria.”

The most powerful moment came when Erin Beaty and AJ Fell, two young people who regularly attend Carlisle Youth Zone, explained how youth work has changed their lives for the better.

AJ said: “Opportunities are coming left, right and centre for me now. I’m going to university to do music and that’s only because of the Youth Zone. I started music when a staff member there threw a guitar at me and said, ‘Learn that!’.”

Erin added: “I’ve made some of my closest friends through the Youth Zone. I couldn’t have met them anywhere else because we go to different schools.”

The organisations to have received support from Better Tomorrows include Euphoric Circus, a charity operating in Penrith, Appleby and Alston that engages with young people by training them in circus skills.

Development Officer Toni Spence said: “The funding has benefited us massively. It has formalised what we can offer in terms of training people in youth work and it has made the quality of what we deliver much higher.”

Another beneficiary is South Whitehaven Youth Partnership, which works with young people between the ages of eight and 18. Representative Jacq Carty said: “We’ve got three years of funding and, by the end of year one, we’ve been able to engage with an additional 107 young people as a result.”

Better Tomorrows is scalable, and it can make an even bigger difference with further funding. For more information, or to make a donation, click here or call 01900 825760.

It has been a year since the Cumbria Home from Home Fund was set up to provide a way for holiday let and second homeowners to give back to the communities where their properties are located.

The initiative was developed by Cumbria Community Foundation in response to growing concerns about the impact of second homes and holiday lets in the county.

As the 2023 holiday season gets underway, the Foundation explains why the Fund was created and how people can support it.

An increase in the number of second homes and holiday lets is a double-edged sword for Cumbria’s economy and communities. Holiday lets attract tourists to the county and those tourists spend money in our communities. But they also reduce the number of people able to live locally and begin to erode the fabric of communities.

This has a knock-on effect on other tourist facing businesses, particularly in the hospitality industry, who struggle to find local employees.

Westmorland and Furness Council covers most of the Lake District where it is estimated that up to a quarter of homes may be owned by non-residents. The council voted in March 2023 to double the council tax bills of second homeowners. However, that increase will only apply to those who do not let their house out for the minimum number of days to qualify as a holiday let.

Holiday lets do not pay council tax as they qualify for business rates (and most do not pay business rates as they qualify for relief). This leaves local councils with less revenue to pay for local services and holiday let owners with a windfall of no council tax or business rates to pay.

Andy Beeforth OBE, CEO of Cumbria Community Foundation, commented: “The beauty of the Lake District often disguises the fact that too many of our residents are experiencing hardship. The significant increase in the number of holiday lets in the past few years has reduced the availability of housing for local people as well as reducing the council tax revenue which pays for local services.

“It seems only right that some of the windfall that holiday let owners receive from not paying council tax or business rates should find its way back into the local communities that host their holiday let properties. The Cumbria Home from Home Fund is the perfect mechanism for this.”

Donations to the Cumbria Home from Home Fund support projects in and around the Lake District that foster a strong sense of community, encourage social connections and improve wellbeing. Funds have contributed to a number of projects including provision of a warm hub in Grasmere, kitchen facilities for a village hall near Kirkby Lonsdale and an art installation featuring 15,000 ceramic daffodils at Lowther Castle.

Wherever possible, donations to the fund are distributed in the town or in the vicinity of the property so that donors can be assured that their money is being returned to the communities that host their property.

To highlight the need for this Fund and how holiday and second homeowners can get involved, the Foundation has produced a short video which can be found here and more details on the Cumbria Home from Home Fund can be found on the Foundation’s website www.cumbriafoundation.org/cumbria-home-from-home-fund/

To make a donation to the Cumbria Home from Home Fund, visit here. All donations are welcome and will go to supporting Cumbria’s communities.

We suggest a minimum annual donation of £500 for properties that sleep up to 6 people, £1000 for those that sleep up to 10, and £1500 for those that sleep 11 and above.

Cumbria Community Foundation has been providing a helping hand to the people of Cumbria for more than 20 years.

The money we raise through the support of our generous donors funds the grants that we distribute to charities and voluntary groups across Cumbria. Those charities and groups provide a lifeline to many people and the grants help them to continue and expand their vital work.

Since 1999, we’ve distributed over £60 million in grants to more than 4,000 organisations and 8,000 individuals in Cumbria, funding a variety of projects; improving access to mental health support, advice and guidance for those in financial hardship, increasing employability and training opportunities, supporting early intervention and education programmes, food provision, tackling homelessness and ensuring young people can access youth clubs.

We’re proud of what has been achieved to date but, knowing that there is always more to be done, we launched our ambitious new five year strategy yesterday.

To respond to the needs in our communities, we aim to grow our sustained long-term grant making to a minimum of £6 million per year by 2028. To do that, we plan to increase awareness of the work we do and inspire more people, families, businesses and larger companies and institutions to donate through the Foundation, which can then be channelled to where needs are most pressing in the county.

Our new five year strategy is timely. It is being launched in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis that hit while we were all still recovering from the social and economic challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. Living standards and life expectancy are falling, and needs are increasing.

It goes without saying that living in Cumbria has some serious upsides. We’ve got a World Heritage Status landscape with good people who look out for each other. But life in the county can also, for many people, be really tough. Our beautiful landscape hides intense poverty and lack of opportunity, all of which is exacerbated by rural isolation and lack of access to services.

We know our county very well. We commission and produce research reports to identify the issues facing communities in Cumbria and also their strengths. Using evidence-based data and insights, we will produce further reports to evidence local need, shed a spotlight on issues that need addressed, and ensure everyone can achieve their potential.

There are a number of different ways people and businesses can give back to their community through the Foundation – one off or regular donations, a membership scheme, legacy gifts, hosting fundraising events to name a few. Our current core of supporters have helped build an endowment of over £26 million which helps ensure community projects are supported for the long term. With new supporters working alongside current fundholders and partners, the plan is to build that endowment to £40 million over the next five years.

We’re determined to improve the lives of local residents and strengthen communities. We want to ensure that Cumbria is a place where needs are met, and everyone can reach their potential.

Read our new five year strategy.

If you’d like to get involved, contact us by sending an email or calling 01900 825760.

Full fibre broadband company Fibrus, who is currently rolling out their network in Cumbria, is delighted to announce its partnership with the Cumbria Community Foundation. This new fund, which launches today and is named the “Fibrus Community Fund Cumbria” aims to award funding to local communities in need of support.

The fund’s main goal is to support those experiencing digital poverty in rural areas, with a particular focus on grassroots organisations and community groups. Successful grants will be allocated to support on-the-ground digital technology projects which make key differences to communities, enhancing people’s lives and wellbeing. A particular focus will be placed on children, young people and older people who could benefit from digital support.

Fibrus Chief Executive Officer, Dominic Kearns, said: “Fibrus is committed to supporting the communities in which we operate. We will invest £60,000 in the Fibrus Community Fund Cumbria in 2023, to give back to some of the organisations doing wonderful work to enhance and support towns and villages across Cumbria.

“We’re looking for projects specifically aimed at young people who need greater access to technology or connectivity, as well as initiatives that combat digital exclusion amongst those more vulnerable in our society. We hope many local groups and community organisations get involved and look forward to hearing more about your fantastic work.”

Jenny Benson, Director of Programmes and Partnerships at Cumbria Community Foundation, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Fibrus to deliver this important new grant making fund in Cumbria. Digital connectivity has increasingly become a daily necessity for us to live our lives, particularly in rural areas. However, the most vulnerable members of our communities often struggle to afford, access or use digital technologies.

“With Fibrus’ generous support, we will be able to offer grants to community organisations to enable them to help younger and older people become more digitally connected and to access a range of online tools, from grocery shopping and training, to new employment opportunities.”

Fibrus launched a similar fund via the Community Foundation Northern Ireland in September 2021 which will have provided a total contribution of £120,000 by the end of 2023. Some examples of the projects supported so far include the provision of devices to help children with special needs communicate in a way more comfortable for them, and iPads for young people to support with education.

To learn more information or to apply to the fund, click here.