Bromley Brighter Beginnings receives funding from Nationwide with a focus on A Healthy Home for Every Child.

Bromley Brighter Beginnings (BBB) has received a grant of £15,000 from Nationwide as part of their Community Grants programme, which brings their members and colleagues together to help tackle the housing crisis.

The funding will be used for their campaign ‘A Healthy Home for Every Child’. It will enable BBB to provide white goods and household appliances to families in need who are unable to afford these items for themselves. Often when an existing appliance breaks down, families are unable to afford a replacement; or they have been rehoused (often due to domestic violence) into accommodation which does not come with white goods provided*.

The inability to do the simple things such as wash bedding or clothing or store and cook food can affect families financially, physically, and emotionally. In 2022/23 we provided 68 households (119 children) with white goods and appliances. This grant will help fund this campaign in 2024, providing practical relief with basic appliances for the families we support.

Alisa Igoe, who has run the Healthy Homes campaign at BBB since it began in 2021 said: “This is tremendous news and will help us to continue providing essential kitchen appliances to families who desperately need them but can’t afford them. No household with children should be without a fridge or an oven and we are seeing an increasing need from vulnerable families across the borough. Thank you to our supplier, who I work closely with, and of course to Nationwide for such a splendid grant.”

Britain’s biggest building society has run its Community Grants programme since 2017 – offering grants of up to £60,000 to local charities and projects, particularly those focussed on housing. This year, it’s awarded a total of £5.1 million to 105 housing related projects across the UK.

Kirsty Hall, Social Investment Manager at Nationwide Building Society, said: “Helping local communities and charities is at the heart of what it means to be a building society for Nationwide. We are pleased our Community Grants programme is going to make a difference through this £15,000 grant to Bromley Brighter Beginnings, helping them make a difference to the lives of those who rely on their services.”

Over the last six years, Nationwide Building Society has awarded £27 million to housing charities up and down the UK, helping make the lives better for almost 148,800 people.

*In cases of rehousing, they are entitled within the first six weeks of occupation to approach the Council’s Welfare Fund for appliances. BBB policy is that we cannot provide appliances if less than 6 weeks in the property.

To find out more visit A Healthy Home for Every Child – Bromley Brighter Beginnings