Grace Church Bolton
We know that often somewhere physical to meet up plays a huge part in building ‘community’. This is especially true for faith buildings. Each year, we support capital improvements to rural and urban faith buildings so that they are better equipped to welcome the local community. These projects include putting in toilets, kitchens, disabled access and improving the energy efficiency of faith buildings. Often these buildings are the only ones available for the local community to use.
A recent example of such a project is Grace Church Bolton. Grace Church is a multicultural faith community that is well used by its own congregation. It also welcomes many local groups from senior citizen exercise to parent and toddler groups. Grace Church wanted to welcome the growing population of asylum seekers in its local area and to provide meals for the increasing numbers of people struggling financially. They were hampered by the church’s existing kitchen which was inaccessible and outdated.
The refurbishment of the kitchen has undoubtedly enabled us to host more events with greater confidence and to a better standard. In addition, we have opened a Community Cafe providing a warm and welcoming space, through which we are now able to offer further support such as classes for ESOL and Mental Health & Wellbeing. We are very grateful for the funding provided by Garfield Weston and others which has come at such a crucial time.
Grace Church outlined the level of need in its local community. They explained how they could increase their work in encouraging positive interaction between different groups and help alleviate the rise of people living in food poverty. All of this would be made possible with a new kitchen. The new facilities would make it possible for Grace Church to increase their focus on local cohesion and support. They would also provide a much-needed resource for local communities to use and gather. Grace Church presented a thorough and cost-effective project budget for a new purpose-built kitchen. They had successfully raised funds from the local community and several trusts when they applied to the Foundation. We were happy to make a grant to help close the church’s capital appeal.