Croxteth Family Matters is continuing to provide a variety of vital services within the local community – with the help of funding from the Steve Morgan Foundation.

The charity has enjoyed various support from the Steve Morgan Foundation during recent years, including a grant of £95,000, as detailed by CEO Ken Eaton in this article from last year.

We recently visited the charity which was a hotbed of activity and continues to provide so many different services, including, most recently, a regular Food Pantry operated via a membership scheme.

“The charity started out over 30 years ago as Croxteth and Gillmoss Community Federation, as an advice centre really,” says Senior Manager Karen Campbell.

“But in recent years it was identified that there was a need not just for advice and welfare, but also many different family support services.

“Thanks to the Steve Morgan Foundation, we were successful with a bid which has enabled us to grow, expand and continue with what we are doing.

“So we are no longer working with just one particular age group, but right the way through from birth to the elderly.

“A lot of our services are based on trying to reduce poverty, and the Food Pantry is something that we are really proud of.

“We have always tried to distribute food free of charge to families and local people in need, but with the pantry we now have a membership scheme and it has become like a big social event on a Friday.

“We are seeing people of a variety of ages coming in and using the pantry and, as with so many of our services, it offers them the chance to meet other people and feel less isolated.

“All the different activities that we put on get people through the door and then we find we can try and meet their other needs as well.

“People might come in for the creative activities, or bring their children along to the After- School club, and then we find out that they might need other help as well.

“We have family support workers, play workers and wonderful volunteers, and there is plenty of advice available for anyone who needs it.”

Croxteth Family Matters remain hugely appreciative of the Steve Morgan Foundation, not just for the grant and financial backing but the continued support and advice and linking them up with other charities and community groups.

“The Steve Morgan Foundation has helped us make this growth in our charity, and has also given us a lot of confidence,” adds Karen.

“Sometimes you get a grant off an organisation and that is it, you might never hear from them again.

“With the Steve Morgan Foundation they have given us the confidence to grow, as well as referring and linking us with other organisations which they fund who can also help us.

“The Food Pantry for example wasn’t our idea but it came from someone the Steve Morgan Foundation referred us to and now it is working fabulously.

“They also linked us up with the Reader, another fantastic charity from Calderstones Park, and they come in and do training for some of our visitors as well as a Story Time session for the children.

“The conference that the Foundation organised last year was also a massive help in linking us up with other charities, and you just get that personal touch which isn’t necessarily there with all funders.

“If I had to sum up the Steve Morgan Foundation in just one word it would be ‘support’ – just giving us that confidence to expand and grow.”

Click here to find out more about Croxteth Family Matters.