Bournemouth, Christchurch, Political, Poole | Posted on March 25th, 2026 | return to news
£1.7m spent to help tackle Bournemouth’s cost-of-living crisis
Dozens gathered in Bournemouth to celebrate the BCP Food & Energy Support Fund, which has handed out over £1.7 million in the last five years.
More than 300 grants worth a total of £1.7 million has been handed out by the BCP Food & Energy Support Fund over the last five years to help helped thousands of people cope with the cost-of-living crisis in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP).
On Monday 23 March, workers and volunteers from grassroots charities all over the BCP area came together to celebrate the impact of these grants. More than 100 people from dozens of groups gathered at the Henry Brown Centre in Bournemouth for the Stories of Change event, which showcased the hard work of charities and voluntary groups through beneficiaries’ tales of the difference the support they received has made to them.
The BCP Food & Energy Support Fund is run in partnership by BCP Council and Dorset Community Foundation. It has awarded more than 300 grants to 78 different groups over the past five years, helping more than 180,000 people across the BCP area.
The grants, using money from the government’s Household Support Fund, have supported initiatives including: access to food through free or low-cost meals, vouchers, cooking equipment and skills training; help with essentials such as clothing, hygiene and cleaning products; money and employment advice; and warm hubs.
Dorset Community Foundation Grants Manager Ellie Maguire told the audience: “As with all of our funding programmes, it’s about grassroots groups that live and breathe the communities they’re serving.
“Most of the groups that we’re supporting are very much volunteer led and led by people with lived experience of the issues in that community, and that’s what I love about making grants to small grassroots organisations, because the people [we] are giving the money to just really get it – and that’s what’s such a joy.”
One of the grant recipients is Poole Waste Not Want Not, which has used the support to meet the increased need in the area for its supermarket, community café and cookery workshops.
Erika Sloper, chief executive of Poole Waste Not Want Not, said: “We have grown in more ways than I ever imagined.
“Five years ago, we supported 280 households but today the number has risen to 688 households – showing both the growing need and the trust the community has in us.
“Today we see queues at our doors every morning and that says it all. Families are supported not only in crisis but through the moments that really matter most.”
Julie Deller, charity manager at West Howe Community Enterprises, which runs lunches, events and support from the Henry Brown Centre, enjoyed the day’s event. She said: “I’m thrilled about how many people are in here and to feel the centre buzzing and just hearing so many fantastic stories, it just makes you realise that you’re not working in isolation.
“Sometimes it feels that way and this just reinforces that there is so much good out there, and we’re all working to help similar causes and there’s strength in that partnership working.”
BCP Council leader, Cllr Millie Earl, praised the work of the voluntary sector. She said: “Our communities are really struggling at the moment, we hear about it every day and no one more than those who are working on the front line, directly speaking to people and helping them with food parcels, community meals, food vouchers or just offering advice and support to people who need it most.
“I just want to say a massive thank you for everything else that goes around these roles that you do. The resilience that you have shown, the amount of effort you put in, the amount you take home with you in the evening because of seeing what you see every day and listening to some of those stories.”
The BCP Food & Energy Support Fund is currently closed to applications. To learn more, visit https://www.dorsetcommunityfoundation.org/funds/bcp-food-and-energy-support-fund/.
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