Client login
Password

News & Media > Community Investment

22:04:2010

May Gurney donation boosts 'care farm'

A donation by May Gurney has helped to get a new care farm in south Norfolk off the ground.

Clinks Care Farm in Toft Monks - which will offer therapeutic, training and work experience opportunities for adults and children - will welcome its first farm helpers in June after receiving £3,500 from The May Gurney Foundation to pay for safety equipment and insurance.

The care farm, the first of its type in the area, will provide a place for disadvantaged and unemployed people to gain hands-on experience of working on a farm. Those set to benefit include young people at risk of exclusion from education, people with learning difficulties, autism, mental health problems and dementia.

The farm will take referrals from Norfolk and Suffolk health and social care organisations and prescriptions through local GPs.

The project aims to get people into work, access further education or move on to other volunteer placements while boosting confidence, self-belief and improving physical and mental wellbeing.

Young homeless men and people with dyslexia will also benefit from the latest round of donations from May Gurney, via grants made to The St Edmunds Society and INDIGO Foundation in Norwich.

The St Edmunds Society, which provides accommodation for homeless men under the age of 30, has received £3,000 to help residents gain skills in plastering, tiling, painting and decorating.

And the INDIGO Foundation, a one-stop centre to help people with dyslexia, has received £2,500 to increase the amount of tuition sessions delivered to unemployed people living with the condition.

The May Gurney Foundation was set up in 2009, and has set aside £300,000 to help charities and organisations get people back into work and education.

Janine Daynes, chair of the May Gurney Foundation, said the company felt it was important to give back to local communities and help people back to work, especially in tough economic times.

She said: “Our foundation supports community based charities and good causes which help young people and the long-term unemployed get into work.

“It focuses on improving opportunities for people in terms of education, self help, health and wellbeing as well as supporting local environment issues.”

May Gurney will donate £100,000 per year to charities across the UK. Another £15,000 has been made available to match fund employees’ fund raising activities for local and national charities.

Click here to read more about May Gurney's involvement with the communities in which it works.