Funds of £50,000 have been shared between 32 charities and other organisations from Central England Co-operative.
The latest payout from the society’s Community Dividend Fund goes to projects including the Hero Project, in Coalville, Leicestershire, which will use £3,300 to buy an outdoor pizza oven and co-operative ingredients to help youngsters learn more about where food comes from.
Danielle Fern, from the Hero Project, said: “The project is about going around local schools and doing a pizza club, which will involve different activities such as how to grow ‘pizza’ plants.
“This will have a massive impact on our local area in a good way.”
Raunds Town Cricket Club, in Northamptonshire, has been handed £2,000 to help build toilet facilities for people with disabilities and a shower for female players.
Headway, a charity which supports people who have suffered a brain injury and their carers in Derby, received £1,500 to pay for new equipment such as tablets that will be used to help patients overcome the challenge of living with a brain injury.
The Kushinga Community Garden, in Birmingham, was given £1,895 to help pay for need materials to bolster efforts to bring the community closer together through gardening.
Sheffield-based Eckington Tenants & Residents Focus Group secured a grant of £4,500 to help make the community more disabled friendly. Improvements will include specialist braille signs for use in a specialist sensory garden.
Other groups to receive funding include schools, pre-schools, Scout groups, football and basketball teams.
Grants of between £100 and £5,000 are handed out every three months, and the fund guarantees that at least 1% of the society’s trading profit is reinvested in local communities across its trading area of 16 counties, from the Midlands to the East Coast.
Chief executive Martyn Cheatle said: “The Community Dividend reflects a key principle of our society, in that we reward the loyalty of our customers by investing in and supporting local communities.
“I would like to urge all of our members to get in touch and put forward a community cause close to their heart for the Community Dividend scheme.”
People can apply for funding by heading online and visiting https://communities.centralengland.coop/
