Fund for rural fight against virus

The cash is being administered by regeneration agency Cadwyn Clwyd who are appealing to local organisations to come forward and share in funds worth up to £3,000 each.

It’s aimed at helping develop new ways of providing local services such as Meals on Wheels and other outreach programmes to help people in rural Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham, particularly the elderly and most vulnerable.

The chair of the Wrexham Local Action Groups, David Darlington, said: “This crisis is going to last for more than a couple of weeks and organisations need sustainable help and assistance.

“The people on the ground have the knowledge of who is likely to need help and where that help needs to go to and this will help provide the resources for these local champions to deliver crucial and timely services.

“The cash will help community organisations to adapt to new ways of working and developing innovative solutions to providing services to their communities.”

Funding is from a pot of almost £8 million of LEADER project funding which is being administered by Corwen-based agency, Cadwyn Clwyd and from part of the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020.

Cadwyn Clwyd Manager Lowri Owain said: “These are very challenging times and that’s as true for the rural areas as for the towns across Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham.

“This money is aimed at community groups, charities and public sector organisations which are at the frontline of the fight against the coronavirus epidemic.

“Many of them are having to seek new ways of delivering their services which is very challenging at this difficult time.

“We are already helping organisations with, for example, the purchase of food containers for home deliveries."

“We don’t want to take anyone away from the front line and tie them up with organisational matters and these grants can cover equipment and even with marketing costs for material to raise public awareness.”