FreeShop Crawley has received a funding grant of £66,000 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to continue to deliver the free community café and FreeShop offer at the Bewbush Centre.  

The community café is a key part of the local community and helps reduce the impact of the cost of living for those in Crawley. The café, which is open every Wednesday from 9am to 3pm, is free of charge and offers food, charging points and digital inclusion clinics.

The Freeshop Offer provides opportunities for members of the community to get support with a variety of areas including wellbeing programmes, form filling, money management and budgeting advice, as well as bespoke workshops.

The UKSPF aims to decrease the gap in healthy life expectancy and increase opportunities between those in the most and least deprived areas in Crawley.  Crawley Borough Council secured £1 million from the UKSPF over three years for funding to support projects that boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards, improve public services, empower local leaders and communities, or restore a sense of community and local pride.

We are really pleased to have awarded this grant funding to FreeShop Crawley. The vital work that the volunteers do is invaluable for local residents, particularly in the current cost of living crisis.

Councillor Michael Jones

Leader

Crawley Borough Council

This funding will offer a lifeline to the community and will aid us in our mission to reduce social and financial inequality in Crawley. Thank you so much for this funding and the incredible opportunities it is going to open up for our community.

Laura-Jane Wainwright

FreeShop Crawley