Our In the Community scheme is currently online!

This initiative enables our members to decide how £500 is divided between two worthy local charities each quarter.

Simply click on the vote button on your preferred charity below:

Steps

Steps provides specialist nursery services and support to children with motor disorders and their families, enabling them to lead fuller, more active lives. They follow the principles of Conductive Education to cater to young children with Cerebral Palsy, chromosome disorders including Down Syndrome, or other conditions which affect the acquisition of motor skills. The Steps team offers vital support to hundreds of families, working to develop skills the children need to progress and maximise their potential while providing parents with knowledge and confidence to enhance the development of their child.

Started in 1994 by four families to make the benefit of Conductive Education available to Leicestershire families from Step’s base in Shepshed, they now offer weekly sessions to over fifty children and their families who state that Steps is an absolute lifeline to them.

It costs Steps £220,000 a year to operate and they rely solely on fundraising and grants to generate this income.

Alice Hawkins Community Projects

Born out of necessity to help people during the Covid lockdowns, Alice Hawkins Community Projects is a joint venture of local residents, named after suffragette Alice Hawkins who lived opposite the Fosse Neighbourhood Centre where the group is now based. What started as a small foodbank to support a handful of families in the Woodgate area has expanded to provide for around 120 households thanks to a large group of volunteers who help with everything from deliveries, admin work, and stock management. They are now embarking on a number of new initiatives, including the Fosse Neighbourhood Community Garden which started in 2023 to grow fruit, vegetables and herbs to support the foodbank.

Their goal is to work with local people to enable change within the community, providing support for those from less privileged backgrounds so they can focus on improving their lives, accessing opportunities and developing the community they belong to.

Voting will end 30th June 2024