SES Water donates funding for projects in Surrey

03/10/22

SES Water has donated £12,000 to two local projects, through the Community Foundation for Surrey – The Breck Foundation and The Leatherhead Youth Project.

The partnership with the Community Foundation for Surrey began in May 2019 and forms part of SES Water’s commitment to supporting worthy causes in the community and give something back to those groups providing vital services for local people and disadvantaged individuals. Since the partnership started – funds totaling almost £100,000 (£92,269) - have been awarded through 24 grants to organisations and are expected to have benefitted more than 10,000 people.

In the most recent round of funding SES Water awarded a grant to The Breck Foundation, a local charity which was founded in 2014, in memory of Breck Bednar, a 14-year-old boy from Surrey who loved technology and online gaming. Breck was groomed by someone he met online, and subsequently murdered. Fundamentally the Foundation wants to prevent this tragedy from occurring to any other young person ever again.

A grant has also been donated to The Leatherhead Youth Project, which is a charity working to see positive social transformation among teenagers in deprived communities in Surrey, through providing innovative youth services and life changing opportunities.

SES Water Chief Executive Officer, Ian Cain, said: “We are proud of our established partnership with the Community Foundation for Surrey and it’s fantastic to see the meaningful and lasting impact our funding has had on local people. The decision-making process for selecting which organisations we support is very much a collaborative effort, involving colleagues from across the business, and we are delighted to have been able to help more than 6,000 vulnerable, elderly, and young people in the past year. We look forward to supporting more local groups and encourage applications for future grants.”

Director of Grant making for the Community Foundation for Surrey, Kate Peters, said: “The Community Foundation for Surrey is delighted to be continuing its partnership with SES Water to award grants to local voluntary groups and disadvantaged people across Surrey.

“Each year the Foundation works with hundreds of groups working hard to make a difference across the county and last year distributed more than £2.75 million in grants to support people in need. This year, with the help of companies such as SES Water, we’re set to award £2 million. That is the difference our wonderful donors make.”

Chief Executive of The Breck Foundation, Michael Buraimoh, said: “The Breck Foundation is extremely grateful for the support of SES Water, which with it we can deliver our powerful online safety sessions in schools all over Surrey. Their funding is potentially lifesaving as Breck’s mother believes that had her son seen a Breck Foundation talk, he would still be alive today.”

Project Lead at The Leatherhead Youth Project, Hope Bancroft, said: "We are so grateful to SES water for supporting our Making Good Project. Making Good offers young people the chance to give back to the community, by taking part in social action, during their half terms. Having this funding from SES Water, enables us to support local young people and provides opportunities to broaden their horizons." 

To find out more about SES Water’s sponsorship and donation policy, read here or to apply for funding, please visit the Community Foundation for Surrey’s website.