Somerset Community Foundation (SCF) is delighted to have been awarded a High Sheriff’s Special Recognition Award, which cites their 'outstanding work to the community in Somerset and for their acts of thoughtfulness and kindness during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020.'

SCF launched the Somerset Coronavirus Appeal on 19th March 2020, just a few days before the first national lockdown was announced. The High Sheriff’s award is made on the anniversary of the first emergency Somerset Coronavirus Response grants, which were approved for payment less than a week after the appeal was launched. These first grants were made to food banks across the county, and in those first few weeks of lockdown SCF continued making emergency grants to frontline charities across our county, every day.

The Somerset West and Taunton Small Grants Fund, managed by Somerset Community Foundation (SCF) on behalf of the Somerset West and Taunton Council, awarded £18,000 of grants in the area to help support charities during the early days of lockdown last year.

The funding helped 21 groups and was matched with an additional £39,650 of funding which was raised by a national coronavirus appeal run by the National Emergencies Trust (NET).