Charities benefit from new hub in Milton Keynes
Several charities in Milton Keynes will benefit from a new permanent home at a charity hub, courtesy of the Council’s £1m charity funding.
Last year, charities including MK FoodBank Xtra, Baby Basics MK and St Marks Meals had been gifted a temporary base at a council-funded warehouse so they could concentrate on their important support for local people instead of worrying how to fund accommodation and other bills.
Now, the Council is due to approve a relocation to a new facility in Granby, working alongside the MK Community Foundation to bring together multiple voluntary organisations, helping them to thrive and handle increase demand due to the pandemic.
The new hub will provide more space for charities to store essential goods, saving costs and enabling them to get supplies out faster to people in need.
Milton Keynes Council has also agreed to pay rent and utility bills for FoodBank Xtra so they can focus their resources on helping people in need.
Pending approval, the Council will enter into a 20-year lease for the new charities hub with MK Community Foundation, who will be giving the Council a discounted rent.
Cabinet Member for Resources, Cllr Rob Middleton, said: ‘I’m incredibly proud of our partnership with the foodbanks and everything they’ve achieved since the start of the pandemic. They provide a real lifeline to families struggling to make ends meet.
‘This initiative is testament to what we can do when we work together to support MK families and that’s why we want to commit to this vital relationship for the long term. The new space in Granby will allow us to bring charities together to ensure support is available to people when they really need it.’
At the start of the pandemic, the Council entered into a partnership with MK Foodbank Xtra which has seen 14,000 food parcels handed out to local people in need.
In related news, three new partnerships in Wales have been awarded over £8.3m of National Lottery funding to help tackle homelessness.
Photo by Aaron Doucett