Essex charities part of ten finalists up for £16k grant

Our parent company’s charitable arm, the Gannett Foundation, is providing the money to support charities across the country and we are delighted to have a £16,000 share to give away in our area.

We asked you to decide where this money should be spent.

You nominated in your thousands and our editorial team has chosen a shortlist of ten charities from these nominations which will share in the £16,000.

In the south east, ten charities were successful finalists including five in Essex as well as East Sussex WRAS, Albion in the Community, Team Domenica, Watford and District Mencap Society and Colnbrook School.

The Tom Bowdidge Youth Cancer Foundation, which is based in West Bergholt, is another finalist.

The charity was set up in memory of Tom, who died of a desmoplastic small round cell tumour and extensive peritoneal disease in October 2013, at the age of 19.

Nikki and Richard Bowdidge with photo of son Tom, who inspired the creation of the Tom Bowdidge Youth Cancer Foundation (Image: Newsquest)

The foundation now supports teenagers and young adults with cancer.

The Witham Hub is another finalist, and helps people who are socially excluded integrate back into society.

Martin and Tina Towsend with Sarah Doutch and Keith Nelson of Witham Hub (Image: Newsquest)

In south Essex, three charities made the final shortlist.

First is Southend’s Welcome to the UK which works to support refugees in the area, helping them to overcome challenges newcomers face when they move to a new country.

The Welcome to the UK team outside the centre in Southend (Image: Newsquest)

Another Southend charity which made the ten is the St Vincent de Paul Society, a busy community hub supporting vulnerable people in the community with foodbank services, hot meals, in and outreach support, and household items and clothing.

Julie Etchingham with the team at St Vincent’s (Image: Newsquest)

Leigh’s Lady McAdden Breast Screening Trust, which supports the early detection of breast cancer through education, advice and awareness, in the final shortlisted charity.

Shop staff from the Lady McAdden Breast Screening Trust in 2017 (Image: Newsquest)

With the shortlist finalised, we are now putting the power to allocate the cash back into the hands of our readers.

You are invited to collect tokens from our newspapers which can then be taken to collection points across our region or posted.

Each token collected will then be used to allocate cash to the nominated charity – so if your favourite charity collects 50 per cent of all to tokens collected, it will receive 50 per cent of the £16,000.

Collection points can be located at the charities as well as at the Gazette front office at Brunel Court, Brunel Way, Colchester, CO4 5XP, or the Echo front office at Echo House, Howard Chase, Basildon SS14 3BE.

• Newsquest terms and conditions will apply where relevant to the grants process; please visit http://www.newsquest.co.uk/prize-competition-rules. Personal data will be used by Newsquest and its agents solely for the administration of the grants process and will not be shared with any third party; our general privacy notice is at: http://www.newsquest.co.uk/privacy-policy. This campaign will be published in multiple Newsquest publications across this Newsquest region. The 10 charities chosen by the local editorial panel will be voted for by our readers. The value of the grant awarded to each of the 10 charities will be calculated pro rata according to their share of the vote. Only original voting coupons will be accepted, no photocopies. The cash grants will be sent by BACS transfer. Grants are conditional on completion of the relevant project and a successful nominee charity may be required to evidence its use of the grant. The top 10 charities selected for the vote will be contacted to provide additional information for entry into the readers’ vote; should this information not be provided within the timescale provided then the editorial panel will select an alternative charity. The charity must be registered with the Charities Commission and have not received a grant from the Gannett Foundation in the last two years.