SKIPTON based children’s charity Selfa, and Home Start Craven have both received £15,000 to help them survive the coronavirus crisis.

The two organisations received the highest amount of grant from the Two Ridings Community Foundation, which recently handed out £328,307 to 22 different frontline charities a cross North and East Yorkshire.

The grants are aimed at covering essential running costs over the next six months as charities respond to the continuing ‘double whammy’ of increased demand and decreased fundraising caused by Covid and lockdown.

Since the end of March grants provided by Two Ridings have allowed groups to respond in the immediate lockdown period to help keep people fed, safe, well and connected, adapt services to vulnerable users so that support can still be provided even if self-isolating and now allow key local groups to sustain themselves financially while other sources of funding from fundraising events or activities have dried up.

Selfa will use the money to fund two key part time staff members in order to prepare the group for the future and to support the increase in the number of children attending weekly clubs and activities.

Following lockdown in late March, the extended learning charity adapted and focused its efforts on providing direct support to the community, keeping in contact with children and families online.

Emma Pears, Selfa chief officer said: “We are delighted to receive support from Two Ridings Community Foundation which will help Selfa to continue our work with children and young people who have been impacted over the last six months.

“The funding will be directed to the core of our organisation, giving us the flexibility to increase the number of children who attend our weekly after school and holiday activities and helping them to deal with the impact of Covid -19.”

Home Start Craven, based in Cowling, is part of a national community network of trained volunteers and experts. It provides emotional and practical support to parents with at least one child under five who are struggling. The funding will contribute towards staff costs and the expenses and training of eight new volunteers following an increased demand on its services during lockdown.

Jackie McCafferty, programme manager at Two Ridings Community Foundation said:”Four months on from the beginning of lock down, groups are now turning their thoughts from emergency response, to the future and how they can meet the increasing demand on their services as the full extent of the economic and resulting public health crisis is revealed.

“We are trying to support the key community organisations whose survival will be so vital in the coming months and years to ensure that no one gets left behind in the wake of this crisis. We will not be able to fund every group but we will do our damnedest to provide all the support we can as I will never fail to look back in amazement at how our communities responded in those early days.”

Alison Pearson, Two Ridings trustee and chairman of the Grants Committee said: “I am pleased that Two Ridings can play its part in supporting key local charities respond to the significant increased demand that Covid-19 continues to bring.”

Funding is part of the £750 million pot announced by the Chancellor for frontline charities across the UK during the coronavirus outbreak.