A FOUNDATION set up by a financial mutual company, which provided a £25,000 grant to a special school in Bromsgrove last year, is inviting its members to nominate community groups and projects in the West Midlands worthy of funding this year.

OneFamily Foundation aims to redistribute a proportion of the profits from the mutual company OneFamily to help its members, their families and communities.

From today (Wednesday June 1) OneFamily members with an active policy can nominate a project for one of its Community Awards – giving groups in their local area the opportunity to win a £5,000 or £25,000 grant.

Projects can be entered into one of four categories - Health, Disability and Social Care; Schools and Centres of Education; Sports and Social Groups; and Youth and Affiliated Organisations

Each category will have six winners, with five groups receiving £5,000 and one scooping the £25,000 award.

Last year Chadsgrove School, Catshill, Bromsgrove, which caters for children with physical disabilities, received £25,000 to refurbish its playground.

The project included providing a safe, inclusive and high quality fully wheelchair accessible play area that could be used by school pupils and groups from the local community as well as installing a wheelchair accessible sand play area and mirror and music wall panels enabling all children, to enjoy being outdoors and benefit from all the rewards of play.

It also included resurfacing the playground with wheelchair friendly surfaces to create a safe play environment allowing access to play as independently as possible.

Last July the school’s head teacher Deb Rattley was delighted with the OneFamily Foundation award saying it would have a huge impact on the pupils, the school and the wider community – providing them with an environment where they could play as independently as possible, enabling them to learn, socialise, relax and most importantly have fun.

James Hale, customer engagement manager at OneFamily, said: “We launched the foundation to benefit our members, those they care about, and their local communities.

“Last year 36,000 people directly benefitted from our Community Awards and this year we hope to help even more, giving more than £400,000 to the community projects that mean the most to our members.

“Projects must be nominated to be in with a chance of winning, so I’d encourage people across the West Midlands to get involved and give causes close to their heart the opportunity to receive a life-changing grant.”

The closing date for nominations is June 29 and all entries can be submitted at https://foundation.onefamily.com/community-awards/

OneFamily aims to make £5 million available to its members through the OneFamily Foundation to improve their lives or to help them make a positive difference to their local communities.