A COMMUNITY hub is inviting residents to meet the volunteers and visit the facilities on an open day at its new location.
The Chard Community Hub team is asking people to join the event at their new Boden Street building on Friday, January 26.
The hub, which was set up in May 2022 and was operating on Fore Street, received the support of Holyrood Academy, which helped the Chard Community Hub to move into a larger premises.
The centre, which also provides help with its community fridge, is run by volunteers who also help residents with general inquiries.
The fridge provides tinned food, cooked meat, fresh vegetables, and other food items, but also hygiene products, and shampoos.
During the Covid pandemic, its food boxes helped around 138 families a month.
A message from the community hub read: “Join us for demonstrations of the services we offer, meet the volunteer team, and take a tour of the building and its facilities.”
Last year, the Chard Community Hub has launched an online fundraiser to raise £2,000 needed to provide a wide range of different services to residents.
Back then one of the volunteers said: “The £2,000 are to help with the running costs of the hub and keep it going in the future for the local people of Chard and the surrounding area.
“It is run by volunteers who direct residents to other agencies and organisations, there’s a community fridge, sewing hub, repair hub, and arts and craft. They also help filling forms and with general inquiries.
“We have received wonderful feedback. It is very important to have the hub in town.
“It’s given an option to people who did not know where to go.”
In November 2023, Chard's Holyrood Academy entered a formal partnership with the Chard Community Hub.
The collaboration between the two forces aims to help disadvantaged children in the town.
Holyrood Academy Headteacher Dave MacCormick explained how one of the biggest concerns for headteachers are the growing gap between disadvantaged pupils and their more advantaged peers, an issue that has become more prominent since the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.
“The best schools are able to help communities to address that disadvantage gap at the earliest possible age," he said.
The open day at the community hub will take place on Friday, January 26 from 1pm to 7pm
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here