Three charities top public vote for KCOM Community Grants

The people of Hull have spoken and picked the charities who will be awarded KCOM’s latest community grants.

Hull Raspberry Jam, Breathe For Cameron and Hull Women’s Aid were the deserving charities who came out on top of a poll to pick the recipients of KCOM’s quarterly awards.

Raspberry Jam, which organises fun bi-monthly events introducing youngsters to computer coding, children’s asthma charity Breathe For Cameron and Hull Women’s Aid, which supports victims of domestic abuse, will all receive a £500 grant.

Each charity garnered hundreds of votes from the public to claim the cash, overcoming competition from dozens of hopefuls.

Raspberry Jam founder Jon Witts said the money would be put towards buying Raspberry Pi computers for the group’s regular events at Hull Central Library.

He said: "We’re delighted that people have thought us of worthy of their vote. We’ll be putting the money towards buying some full Raspberry Pi sets that can then be used at our events.

"Before we’ve been reliant on the goodwill of people bringing equipment from Leeds and York for the event, so to have our own equipment that we can keep in the library will help us tremendously.

"It will hopefully enable more children to get involved in the events and, longer term, help us to hold more events."

Craig Salter, of Breathe For Cameron which provides emergency inhalers for schools across East Yorkshire, said the grant money would be put to lifesaving use.

He said: "We would like to express our gratitude to the KCOM team for setting up this grant scheme.

"It’s vital to small charities like ours that local businesses support community organisations such as Breathe for Cameron. It really shows KCOM as one of the pillars in our local community who are trying to make the lives better for the people of Kingston upon Hull and how seriously they take the challenges small local charities face.

"We would like to express our deepest thanks to KCOM for all of their support throughout the years of many local charities and schemes. We would like to also thank everyone that took the time to vote for all of the worthy nominees."

Lauren Coupland-Oxley, of Hull Women’s Aid said the money would go towards helping families enjoy a happy Christmas.

She said: "Hull Women’s Aid are grateful for the support we received from the community in the voting process.

"Thanks to the KCOM community team and the public our children’s service can start planning some fantastic activities for the festive period to ensure the children and their families within the refuge over Christmas can experience the magic of family time and allow them to try many activities they’ve never had chance to before.

"We rely heavily on the generosity and thoughts of the local people and businesses to support the refuge with essentials that enable us to provide the service we strive for. From all the staff, women and children at Hull Women’s Aid - thank you.”

Brendon Smurthwaite, KCOM’s community coordinator, said: "We’re delighted three such amazing and diverse groups will benefit from our community grants programme.

"Each group improves life in Hull in their own unique way and we can’t think of three more deserving recipients.

"A huge thankyou to everyone who took the time to vote for their charity of choice – your help was invaluable in making our first public grant vote a success."

* To find out how to vote for a KCOM Community Grant visit www.kcomhome.com/community