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Devon charity celebrates 30th anniversary

Alex GreenBBC News
News imageBBC A photo of Alphington community centreBBC
One of the charities Exeter Community Initiatives has helped is Alphington Community Association

AT A GLANCE

  • A Devon charity is celebrating its 30th anniversary
  • It gave another charity which supports children, young people and the elderly, a £1,000 grant
  • The grant was used to restart a baby and toddler group in Alphington which closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic

A charity which helps people with poverty, homelessness and inequality is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Exeter Community Initiatives said it had helped 50,000 people across Devon during the three decades.

The charity gave Alphington Community Association - a charity which supports children, young people and the elderly - a £1,000 grant earlier in 2023.

It allowed the association to restart its baby and toddler group, which closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

'Space to play'

Kath Sidgwick , secretary of Alphington Community Association, said: "For kids to socialise like this is brilliant, they have a space to play.

"It's great for the mums to sit and chat and the kids to make some noise."

Annabelle Milverton, a mother who uses the toddler and baby group, said: "It's just a lovely little weekly group.

"Most of us come straight from the school drop off. It's a welcoming space."

Dawn Eckhart, from Exeter Community Initiatives, said: “Alphington baby and toddler group is flourishing and is much appreciated in the community."

Exeter Community Initiatives was initially set up by local churches to help homeless people in Exeter.

It soon became an umbrella charity creating more than 25 new community projects, several of which still operate as independent charities today.

Now, Exeter Community Initiatives said it "aims to give people the right support at the start of a problem to help them keep their lives on track and stop them from getting to the point of crisis".

News imageA photo of Zoe
Zoe Clark says the charity has helped her

Mother Zoe Clark said she previously had anxiety and depression, and visited the initiative's charity shop Jelly where staff helped her.

She said: "Without this I might not be around, I would still be in my house not coping.

"I would not have a happy life that I have now.

"It's been a major life change for me."

She now volunteers for the shop.

"I just wanted to do something where my children would be proud of me, and they are," she said.

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