A new defibrillator for St John Ambulance / Mole Valley Housing Association’s community grant helps save lives

Last week Sue Parrott from St John Ambulance Community First Responders in Effingham was presented with a new defibrillator sponsored by Mole Valley Housing Association. The funding was awarded as part of the housing association’s Community Grants scheme.

Mole Valley Housing Association (MVHA), which is part of leading affordable housing provider Circle Anglia, is currently offering two streams of funding for neighbourhood and community projects:

A Neighbourhood Cash Scheme - for making the neighbourhood a safer and more pleasant place.
Community Chances Scheme - for building communities by providing services for younger and older people, promoting healthy living or helping with economic development.

Every year the housing association makes over £54,000 available to enhance the Life Chances of its residents and the wider community. The new defibrillator is a vital piece of equipment for community first responders, which enables the volunteers to correct life threatening heart rhythms for patients in cardiac arrest.

Craig Chitty, Effingham & District CFR Team Leader said: “The group would just like to express how grateful we are for the generous donation from Mole Valley Housing Association. Such a donation will go a long way in helping us keep our team on the road thus enabling us to continue providing our valuable service to the people of Mole Valley and surrounding areas”.

Andrew Furtek, Head of Community Development at MVHA, said: “We are delighted to be in a position to support our residents and local community through the Community Grants scheme. We are really pleased to be working in partnership with the responder team at St John Ambulance Surrey and being able to support the valuable work that they do.”

The Community Grants scheme offers financial support from £50 up to £500. It is available to help fund or part fund projects which will mostly benefit or link with residents of MVHA. Higher grants may be available for larger scale projects. Interested community groups who would like to apply for the Mole Valley Housing Association Community Grants scheme should contact Michelle McSorley on phone 01306 505531 or email michelle.mcsorley@mvha.org.

For more information about the Effingham team’s effort contact the Team Leader Craig Chitty on 01372 458007 or email responder-effingham@surrey.sja.org.uk. Alternatively look at their website www.sja.org.uk/effingham-first-responders.

For further information please contact Maike Riedel at the Circle Anglia press office on 0845 234 0824 or email pressoffice@circleanglia.org.

Last modified 01/06/10