News

Peterborough Council for Voluntary services (PCVS) took part recently in the National Lottery’s crossed finger selfie campaign to say a big THANKYOU to The National Lottery for the funding they have provided them. With this support, PCVS have been able to support our members to provide essential services to local communities, making a huge difference to the lives of so many people.

PCVS was well on its way in delivering the Lottery Funded “Health Xchange programme” with the aim of improving health and well-being of individuals/ community, when the Pandemic struck in March this year. At this point PCVS transferred their workload to meet the challenges of the Covid-19 Pandemic with the help of the National Lottery emergency funding. This enabled PCVS to bring two new members on board to meet urgent needs, allowing them to help distribute funding, coordinate activities (avoiding duplication of effort), offer training on current issues, communicate more regularly and widely, and provide guidance to the community via various organised forums. The latter was a collaboration, facilitated by PCVS, of many community groups and individuals in Peterborough who rose to the challenge magnificently by coming together to resolve issues and meet the community needs, including …. food distribution, mental health, isolation/ loneliness, domestic violence, Debt & poverty and Digital Inclusion.

PCVS equipped with National Lottery funding has been able to support various charities and communities in need across Peterborough. One such charity is Community First (Peterborough) who were delighted to have the facility through PCVS to network with so many other charities to enable them to start a food distribution service to fill gaps of other providers.

Adrian Holdstock chairman for Community First (Peterborough) said that “we knew that through PCVS we could tap into many sources of advice and specialist help to serve the very diverse and deprived communities of inner-city Peterborough. Funding from providers such as the National Lottery, is a key enabler for PCVS to support not only us but other local and national charities in our shared goal of helping people in need.”

National Lottery funding has also funded Youth Inspired, a vital project run by PCVS that supports young people in Peterborough to have a voice and create the activities, events and clubs that they want and need.

Helen Wainwright, Youth Inspired’s Community and Communications Coordinator is grateful to the National Lottery for funding their project, “This funding has enabled us to help and support community groups to deliver youth provision across Peterborough.  It has meant that new clubs have started and that existing clubs could continue at this crucial time.  This vital funding means that young people across our City now have access to activities, support and creative outlets that they may not have had before. All this invaluable support would not be possible without the funding from the National Lottery, Thank you!”