Hastings Direct's £250,000 Covid-19 Community Commitment Grant Scheme supports over 150 local charities

Hastings Direct (“Hastings”) has increased the monies available to support local charities in Bexhill and Leicester to £250,000. Hastings has donated over £188,000 to more than 150 local charities over the past 16 weeks from their COVID-19 Community Commitment Grant scheme, which aims to help the most vulnerable in our communities.

In the Bexhill area, Hastings raised money for Dom’s Food Mission and in Leicester for Open Hands to support the amazing work they both do for their local areas. Collectively, the company, colleagues and other supporters donated over £13,000 to the charities.

Hastings is delighted to have helped many other local charities via the grant scheme, including St Michael’s Hospice, Sussex 4x4 Response, and Warming Up The Homeless in the Bexhill area and Menphys, Leicester Islamic Academy and LOROS Hospice in Leicester.

Jodie Cornford from The Chaseley Trust, a charity helping people with disabilities in East Sussex said, “On behalf of everyone at The Chaseley Trust, we would like to thank the Hastings Direct COVID-19 Community Grant Scheme for the donation we have received. The grant will help us to face the unexpected challenges that COVID-19 has brought and adapt our services accordingly.”

Magdalena Korytkowska, from LOROS added, ““We are extremely grateful and would like to thank Hastings Direct from the bottom of our hearts for the continued support towards the work we do. It goes without saying that it is a difficult and very scary time for everyone so seeing our local community and businesses coming together and bringing support, friendship and kindness to us and our patients means absolutely everything.”

Toby van der Meer, Hastings Chief Executive Office said, “We’re proud of our ongoing commitment to our local communities and the invaluable work they do. Over the past few weeks we have introduced a number of extraordinary measures to ensure that we keep colleagues safe and support our customers, especially NHS and frontline healthcare workers and we want to be there for our communities too. We hope this further investment will allow charities to continue to help those in need at this difficult time.”

Natalie Sadlier
PR Manager
T: 01424 738225
pr@hastingsdirect.com

Notes to Editors

Hastings Direct Covid-19 Community Grant Scheme

A charitable £250,000 community scheme set up to help those charities supporting the local community through the coronavirus pandemic.

Over £10,000 via Just Giving - Hastings kicked this off with a £2,500 donation for each charity and its colleagues were invited to additionally donate as and where they can, along with any kind contributions from the public. The company then matched contributions up to a further £2,500 for each charity.

Up to £240,000 has been made available for any local charities that are helping our communities with coronavirus related projects and schemes. The Hastings Direct Covid-19 Community Grant Scheme gives local charities within a 20 mile radius of Conquest House (Hastings’ head office) or St George’s Way (Leicester office) the opportunity to apply for a grant. The applicant must be a registered charity. To apply or for further information, please contact community@hastingsdirect.com.

Protecting colleagues and customers through the Coronavirus pandemic

Hastings is committed to protecting and supporting colleagues, customers and the wider community during the Coronavirus pandemic and has implemented a number of measures to make sure those most in need are supported and helped.

The welfare of colleagues is paramount and Hastings has taken many steps to ensure their safety. Nearly all colleagues are working from home, with the technological support quickly put in place to make this happen. A £100,000 colleague hardship fund has been put in place to support colleagues whose households have been significantly impacted by COVID-19.

To help the NHS and frontline healthcare customers stay on the road and to keep their cars and homes protected, Hastings introduced additional measures including free RAC breakdown assistance, courtesy car for any NHS and frontline healthcare workers with a Hastings motor policy if their car is involved in an accident and priority claims and customer service if they need to make policy changes or updates or register a claim. Amendment fees were also temporarily waived for volunteers needing to add or remove drivers from their policy, or change their level of cover because of the Coronavirus outbreak. Price reductions, fee waivers and financial support were also in place for those customers having payment difficulties as a result of coronavirus.

Hastings’ COVID-19 Community Commitment Grant Scheme has also been launched, making £250,000 available to help small local charities in Bexhill and Leicester working to support communities through the pandemic.