ESO Community Fund 2021

This year, our fund is supporting 18 charities across the UK, helping them with their work to support communities throughout Covid-19.

Last year we created our National Grid ESO community fund to support our colleagues who are involved in local community-based organisations during the pandemic.

Many of our colleagues across ESO applied for funding for charitable organisations that mean something to them, their friends and their families. This year, the 18 charities we are supporting include charities involved in a broad range of activities such as helping vulnerable people, food initiatives, supporting young people and community centres.

This year’s charities include Proof Bakery, Stratford Foodbank and King’s Church Trust Loughborough foodbank, who all provide food to their local communities in need.

Chernise Neo, founder of Proof Bakery commented, "Not only will your grant have a significant impact on tackling local food poverty, it will also keep our bakers in work. As an artisan bakery that trains and employs refugee women, we are delighted to have received this boost from the ESO which will help our bakers to stay in the jobs that they have worked so hard to attain."

We are also supporting hospice and hospital services including Wellesbourne and Walton Community Cares, Saint Michael’s Hospice Harrogate and Marie Curie, Solihull Hospice.

Joan O’Leary from Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust said, "during the past 12 months more so than ever coming into hospital has been a frightening and anxious time both for our patients and their families.

"Funding for our Play Team has really helped them to provide ongoing reassurance for our patients and helped them cope with the exacerbation that the Pandemic has added to their visits and stays."

Woodley lunch bunch, Inspire Education Trust and Birmingham Children's Hospital are some of the charities we are supporting this year who help local young people in our communities.

The full list of charities is as follows: