Kids in Need and Distress (KIND), a charity that helps families struggling to cope from the poorest areas of Merseyside is celebrating having received a grant worth £12,800, contributing to the costs of its healthy eating project ‘Food for Thought’.
The funding has been made by the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales through its Community Programme and will support the charity to engage parents and their children over the next two years to learn together about good diet and healthy eating on a budget. Since 2007 the Lloyds TSB Foundation has made grants worth £2.2 million to charities tackling disadvantage across Merseyside.
Founded in 1975, KIND helps to transform the lives of disadvantaged children and their families by giving them the same opportunities in life and helping them see their individual worth. The charity does this through a range of educational activities on the environment and healthy living at its ‘Seed Centre’. The centre is fully operational after being transformed from a derelict inner-city site into a state of the art, eco-friendly multi-purpose education and community resource in 2008. The charity has a dedicated team of in-house teaching staff leading and developing fun and innovative programmes around the environment and healthy living to help disadvantaged children from local schools in the area. Kind also undertakes a range of residential breaks for children living in temporary accommodation.
Funding from the Lloyds TSB Foundation will allow over 100 children and parents a year in the Merseyside area, currently at risk from poor health and poor educational attainment to benefit from a six week ‘Food for Thought’ course, teaching them how to cook healthily and on a budget and to ensure a good diet, as well as improving their numeracy and literacy skills. The funding is specifically paying for the core costs of tutors for the course taking place in the Seed Centre’s cooking workshop and gardens.
Stephen Yip MBE, Chief Executive of KIND commented on the importance of the grant, “The support from Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales will enable us to roll out our Food for Thought programme across the community. It is a marvellous gesture of support from Lloyds TSB and will enable us to spread the message about the importance of healthy eating in a fun and practical way.”
Lloyds TSB Foundation grant manager for Merseyside, Cheshire and South Manchester, Michele Lester, added, “It was clear from my visit to KIND that the charity is changing the lives of children and their families every day across Merseyside. The Lloyds TSB Foundation is delighted to support this work.”
To find out more about the support available from KIND please visit their website www.kind.org.uk .
The Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales supports charities that help disadvantaged people to play a fuller role in the community. Local or regional charities with an income up to £1million and national charities with an income up to £5 million can find out more about the funding criteria and grant programmes at www.lloydstsbfoundations.org.uk
