Salisbury charity launches first community hub with lottery funding
Safer and Supportive Salisbury gained charity status in October 2023
Salisbury's newest charity has been handed £120,000 by the National Lottery Community Fund to aid its work in making the city safer.
Safer and Supportive Salisbury (SaSS) gained charity status in October 2023 and has been granted the funding over the next three years.
It's allowed the charity to move into it's first premises, on Catherine Street, where it will share space with the Salisbury Pantry.
On the days where the pantry is not running, SASS will use the space as a community information hub as well as a bookable space for organisations to use for meetings and activities.
SaSS Chair, Anne Trevett BEM, said:
“We are pleased to announce the successful outcome of our bid to The National Lottery Community Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, this funding will enable the Trustees to contract the services of a Project Manager, who will help to steer our current projects and explore new ones.
“We will be expanding the Salisbury Safe Places scheme and will continue to run our Showcase events, such as ‘Thriving on a Shoestring’ planned for September. Our information hub will be opening soon at 59 Catherine Street, signposting support networks, events and services available for everyone in the community to access.
The charity is perhaps most well known for it's Safer Places scheme, where businesses and organisations across the city offer refuge to people who are feeling at risk or lost.
SaSS vice-chair Liz Batten told Greatest Hits Radio the funding will allow them to continue and improve their projects, which fill a gap in society left by reduced statutory services.
"We all know that there are less things being done and things are less available and things cost more. It's not as free and easy as it used to be, so the voluntary sector has had to step in to fill a gap."
Ms Batten added that while the charity's main aim is to make Salisbury safer, it also seeks to boost the health and wellbeing of people living in the city.