Newbury Building Society has launched a Cost-of-Living Support project, offering financial donations to organisations supporting people with rising living costs in Berkshire, Hampshire, and Oxfordshire.
The Society has also launched a hub on their website, where their members can access guidance, support, and links to useful cost of living resources.
Donations have been made to over 25 different organisations providing support in the areas of transport, mental health, food, energy, and debt.
Organisations will use the funding for various activities, including emergency food packs for families in food poverty, energy meter top-ups, volunteer recruitment, and assistance with running costs.
Emma Simms, marketing and communications manager at Newbury Building Society, said: “We feel extremely fortunate to be able to help the communities in our branch towns in such a significant way.
“We know many of our members will be worried about the impact of rising prices on their day-to-day lives, and it is right that we do as much as we can to ease the hardship of our members and support our local communities.
West Berks Foodbank, which received £9,000 from the Newbury, will use funds to provide meter top-ups for people struggling with rising energy costs, and topping up food donations, which have decreased this year.
Some of the money will also support their home delivery service, which supplies food parcels to those unable to travel to a distribution centre.
Fran Chamings, manager at West Berks Foodbank, said: “It is only with financial support from local businesses such as Newbury Building Society that we can continue to provide compassionate support to people facing increasingly difficult situations.
“This most recent donation will help us to provide food and essential items to those that can no longer afford them.
“We will be able to top up electricity and gas smart meters and signpost those clients to energy charities to try and find longer-term solutions. Your donation allows us to continue our core goals to ‘Relieve Hunger, Restore Dignity and Revive Hope’.”
Simms added: “As a mutual we can do this by balancing the needs of both borrowers and savers through our products and pricing, charitable donations that support our local communities and the guidance and advice we have on our online hub.
“We hope that collectively, the decisions we are making will help ease a little bit of the strain people are facing.”
