Kent Reliance Building Society

Kent Reliance Building Society has set up a brand new Charitable Trust to help communities both at home and abroad.

This is a registered charity in the UK (registered number: 1129859) and it has several principal aims.

The relief of poverty for children and young people either in the UK or overseas by providing or assisting in the provision of accommodation, clothing, food, education, training, recreation and other facilities.

Providing resources or aid, either professional or pertinent expertise and support.

Making grants to individuals or to other charitable bodies.

At present the focus of the KRBS Charitable Trust is:-

Quid 4 a kid

Our campaign was launched in order to raise £500,000 to build a new orphanage in India.

The home, based in Mangalore India is only rented and has no secure tenure which could mean innocent children may be made homeless at any point. These children through no fault of their own have been infected with the Aids virus, which is usually inherited from a parent. Sadly, there are many more children still waiting for a place.

Click here to visit the Quid 4 a Kid website for further details.

To make a donation by Cheque/BACS click here

or better still

However, we would like to tell you about some of the other projects the Society supports through its charitable and community involvement programme:-

Herne Village Association

KRBS were made aware of Herne village’s fund raising campaign to refurbish a local children’s play area. The Society visited the site to find it totally overgrown and the equipment in a dangerous condition. Estimates had been obtained by local contractors but it was suggested that if a team of people could give up some time to clear the site it would considerably reduce the costs. The KRBS Charitable Trust made a donation and offered the help of a team of staff to assist the volunteers in the village with the task of clearing the play area.

On a bright Saturday morning in October, hoards of excited children were eagerly awaiting the cutting of the ribbons to allow them their first access to the gleaming play and exercise equipment. Local support and community spirit was clearly evident in the packed village hall where a vast array of homemade refreshments were available to all. KRBS were also delighted to treat the site clearing volunteers to an afternoon of football at KRBS Priestfield Stadium to watch Gillingham FC v Chester City FC.

Walking Bus Schemes

KRBS extended their ‘Walking Bus Schools’ with the addition of St. Andrew’s School in Rochester. The walking buses are very much in keeping with the Society’s commitment to environmental issues and the benefits of sport and exercise for children. Our walking bus sponsorship has also been extended to growing vegetables, attracting wildlife to school playing fields and encouraging the children into sports.

Sunlight Centre, Gillingham

Sunlight Development Trust is a community owned and managed charitable organisation that works with partners across all sectors. They combine a mix of services available to everyone within the community. The overriding aim is to improve health and wellbeing by providing an improved range of social, medical and community activities. KRBS regularly offer football tickets and merchandise as incentives to young people and their families. The youngsters are asked to complete a task such as designing an advertisement for a match day programme, producing a suitable pre-match meal for footballers prior to a game or composing a football song for the terraces.

Fairbridge

Fairbridge work with young people from deprived backgrounds or who have had trauma in their lives. There is a problem of long-term unemployment and social exclusion in the Medway Towns and as a result there is now a second and third generation of unemployed people. It’s created a culture in which young people are not always encouraged to be clever, have ambition, or have interests. Fairbridge meet young people all the time who are very bright, but haven’t done very well at school because they were never positively encouraged. Through trust and recognition, Fairbridge aim to increase self-esteem, social skills and an understanding and respect for others and their property.

In the coming year we plan to give complimentary match tickets to Gillingham FC games and tours of the KRBS Priestfield Stadium that will encourage, inspire and reward the young people Fairbridge work with.

Spadework, Offham, Kent

Spadework is an independent training organisation, which undertakes tuition in a number of subject areas for adults with learning disabilities. The trainees are given the opportunity to achieve their full potential, however great or small that may be. Spadework provide training in horticulture, woodwork, amenity gardening, catering, retailing and computing with further plans to extend this range of activities in the near future.

The friendly and patient staff are acknowledged experts in their field of tuition. They have a wide catchment area within mid-Kent which is catered for by two sites: a Headquarters at Offham, West Malling and a sister site at Hildenborough, which lies between Sevenoaks and Tonbridge. Spadeworks principal objective is to help all those who are able to make a valued contribution to the world of work through accreditation and demonstrable progression.

A willing KRBS team spent a weekend re-decorating the Cafe at their Offham site. The open day was a resounding success with a large number of visitors purchasing their Spring/Summer plants from the nursery and delicious fresh produce from the farm shop. To our delight the bright and clean cafe was constantly busy with visitors enjoying lunches and afternoon teas.