Welcome to Barking and Dagenham Giving Week!
Barking and Dagenham Giving Week is a new celebration of local people and projects that support the community during the coronavirus crisis and all year round. The aim of the week is to highlight how powerful it is for local people to give time, skills and space for their community and to support local causes.
Throughout the week, stories of adaptation and inspiration have been shared online. Stories that show the ways in which local people have stepped up to the plate in the current crisis, and the power of the community to work together to solve its own problems.
The week has also seen over £9,000 from the Barking and Dagenham lottery handed over to local causes by Cllr Saima Ashraf, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community Leadership & Engagement, and applications have opened for a Covid-19 Rapid Response Fund of £100,000.
Stories
Rachel Crossley: History in the making
Rachel Crossley is the museum director for the East End Women’s Museum, which celebrates and shares the stories of women in east London and counteracts gender inequality. She was also one of the decision-makers for the Rapid Response Fund.
Natalie Smith: Being Brave
Nat Smith works as an Education Director at Arc Theatre, which specializes in creating and performing theatre that challenges assumptions and causes real change in the way that people relate to one another at work, at school and in the community. Arc Theatre received a grant from the Rapid Response Fund to purchase new computer equipment which would allow them to continue their work online and support them after the pandemic.
Carole Pluckrose: Innovation and excitement
My name is Carole Pluckrose and I am the Artistic Director and Board Member of the Boathouse Barking, where I work as both a curator
Ros Alexander: Keeping Carnival Alive
UKON Careers CIC was given a grant from our Renew Fund to take their Carnival activities online. They used this to make and send craft