Decision

To allocate £1,750 of Councillor Ward Funding (CWF) to the Doxa Deo Community Church to support this year's 'Christmas Lunch on Jesus' project.

Reasons for the decision

1.      DoxaDeo Community Church’s ‘Christmas Lunch on Jesus’ is a seasonal initiative to deliver quality food hampers to individuals, families and homes in communities across the UK who would otherwise face a difficult or lonely Christmas.

2.      In Kingston the project hopes to distribute 200 hampers across the wide area and local Councillors have been approached by the project team to see if they would help fund this year’s programme through an allocation of their CWF.

3.      An allocation of £1,750 of CWF will allow the group to distribute 50 Christmas hampers to those who do not have the financial resources to meet day-to-day needs let alone a Christmas meal. This will be a quarter of the projected provision in Kingston this year.

Reason for urgency

Unlike the other three Neighbourhood Committees, the Surbiton Neighbourhood Committee has reserved the right to allocate CWF. As the Committee will not meet again until 26 January 2023, there will be no opportunity for the Committee to consider new CWF awards prior to the Christmas break.