People on low incomes in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole have been able to keep warm in recent weeks thanks to a partnership between Dorset Community Foundation and BCP Council.

The BCP Food and Warmth Support Fund has made £200,000 worth of grants to 43 groups and charities who are working in communities to provide hot meals and somewhere welcoming to stay out of the cold. The funding has come from the council’s Household Support Fund.

The funding supported 19 projects offering warm spaces, two teaching cookery skills, 12 supplying community meals and ten which provided wider support such as food vouchers.

Among the recipients is the Water Lily Project in Christchurch, which was awarded £7,500 to provide 50 free two-course meals a week to people finding it hard to make ends meet. Chief executive Andy Gilbert said the group, which supports vulnerable women fleeing abusive relationships, is working with Christchurch Foodbank to identify people in need.

They are being fed at the group’s community café in Barrack Road, where the people it works with are given the chance to learn hospitality skills.

Mr Gilbert said: “We are helping people who are running out of funds at this time of year. Obviously the café is a nice warm space where people are welcome to come and sit as well. The people that we are dealing with, some of them haven’t had the opportunity to eat and they are at the bottom of where they could be, so this grant is giving them a chance to enjoy a warm meal.”

Hope Community Church in Bournemouth received £7,500 to help its Hope Hub, a community café created in the rear of the church, open as a warm space with free soup, offer community meals for over 65s and Friday evening hot meals for primary school children.

Volunteer Fiona Hirons said: “Our finances have got so tight that without the grant almost everything apart from our low cost community café would have stopped.

“What we could have afforded to provide for the children’s meals would have been very basic but now we can afford to produce a decent hot meal and a dessert. For some of these children that may be their best meal for the weekend.”

Dorset Safe and Sound in Boscombe will be running cookery classes and providing nutritious meals for the vulnerable women it works with, thanks to a £6,000 grant.

Manager, Dorothy Ann Pickett, said the group will be hosting the classes at its The Well coffee lounge in the Royal Arcade.

She said: “We will be teaching them to cook cheap, nutritious meals that are easy to create and we’ve bought slow cookers so that each person who takes part can have one. The group will be buying a fridge freezer to store the meals that are cooked to feed others.”

The Well opened in March and, as well as the cookery classes, hosts craft sessions and housing advice for the women Safe and Sound supports. It will also be opening as a warm space for its service users five mornings a week.

Community café Poole Waste Not Want Not is using a £7,500 grant to buy extra food for its social supermarket to cope with increased demand. It is also being used to buy Christmas hampers, cover food delivery costs, provide food vouchers for volunteers and buy winter coats and jumpers for residents in need.

Manager, Erika Sloper, said the group is now supporting more than 420 households. “The demand for our service is growing at a worrying rate and we are signing up ten new members a week as energy prices rise,” she said. “The knock-on effect is not just for our most deprived, it is impacting families who work full- time and now struggle to afford food.

“The grant will cover free food parcels, and delivery, as we are seeing an increase in people phoning in with shopping lists because they have no money to come in. This is a concern because a rise in isolation over the weeks ahead is imminent.”

St Gabriel’s Church in Turlin Moor will be transformed into a public living room two days a week thanks to a £6,398 grant.

Trustee, David Reed, said: “The room has been furnished with comfortable armchairs and sofas, rugs and fairy lights to create a beautiful, hospitable and welcoming space – open to the general public on Tuesdays and Wednesdays with the heating on, including toys and crafts for children as well as tea, coffee and refreshments.

“On Wednesdays, we will provide a cooked meal at lunchtime, aimed mainly at older and isolated members but open to all, and later in the afternoon we will co-ordinate a ‘bring and share’ meal for anyone who wants to participate.”

The group will also use the grant to buy stock for its community food store, which provides heavily discounted food for members and opens on Tuesdays.

Dorset Community Foundation director, Grant Robson, said this is the third collaboration with BCP Council.

“We are delighted and very proud that the council entrusts us with this money to ensure it is used as effectively as possible,” he said.

Cllr Jane Kelly, lead member for Communities, said: “We are grateful for the continued support of Dorset Community Foundation with our cost of living campaign which helps to address the rising cost of living for our residents.

“We can be confident that with the help of the community foundation, funding is being distributed to help those on low incomes stay warm and fed this winter ensuring that we reach those most in need.”

Find out more about the work of Dorset Community Foundation at dorsetcommunityfoundation.org.