This past year, a Chichester-based community group has initiated a significant number of projects dedicated to helping the many people in the area whose lives have been severely disrupted by the Covid-19 crisis.

Since its launch in [DATE], the Chichester Community Network (CCN) has brought together formal and informal groups in and around our city and, in so doing, has built a clear understanding of where best to concentrate efforts in our community for the maximum benefit of Chichester People - many of whom have found themselves out of work or with reduced incomes and, because of enforced separation, unable to call on the support of family or friends.

An initiative directly sparked by the CCN, The Mayor’s Hardship Fund was created at the height of the crisis and since then has gifted small but vital sums of money to help those in need: broken cookers have been replaced, new fridges bought and Christmas saved.

Some of those to have approached the Mayor’s Hardship Fund have been frighteningly close to running out of options and hope, but, with only a small amount of money, essential purchases have been facilitated throughout the pandemic which have been not only practical, but also, in a period of considerable hardship, a glimmer of hope and kindness.

Of course, these problems have far from disappeared.

Our hope is now that the Fund can continue to gift similar, life-changing, small funds to those in need in our community, as a symbol of friendship from the heart of city and in acknowledgement of something many of us have felt these past months: “There but for the Grace of God go I.”