Hartlepool advice survey needs your vote in funding appeal

Citizens Advice Hartlepool hopes to secure funding of between £10,000 and £25,000 from the Aviva Community Fund to recruit, train and support volunteer staff.

The advice bureau in Park Road says it relies heavily on volunteers to provide its wide variety of services.

Projects which receive the most support in an online vote will decide which benefit from the funding.

Managers are appealing to Mail readers and town residents to cast their vote for them.

Joe Michna, Citizens Advice Hartlepool manager, said: “On this occasion we are asking Mail readers to help us.

“This is a competitive grant application process and the Aviva Community Fund are using a voting system to decide which projects to consider supporting.

“We urgently need money to support the recruitment, training and support for volunteer staff. Volunteers are the lifeblood of our service.

“This is a great opportunity for readers of the Mail to help us secure funding for the organisation.

“Voting is easy and all people need to do is go to the Aviva website put in their email address and create a password.”

Everybody has 10 votes which can be used to support just one project or a number of projects. The deadline is Friday, November 18.

Mr Michna added: “We would also ask those supporting us to pass the details of the Aviva fund to their friends, relatives and anybody who may consider voting for us.

“We look forward to receiving the votes of Mail readers in the local community.”

The projects with the most votes will become finalists.

Lindsay Forster, UK and Ireland customer marketing director for Aviva said: “We are passionate about improving and strengthening local community wellbeing and committed to extending our impact, working with our customers, shareholders and society to tackle challenges faced every day.

“Following its success in Canada, Poland and the UK where we saw over 3,321 local groups enter the competition last year with over 430 awarded funding, we’ve expanded the Aviva Community Fund to France, Italy and Hong Kong.

“I am sure the Aviva Community Fund in 2016 will exceed our expectations.”

To vote for Citizens Advice Hartlepool go to www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk. The direct link is https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voting/project/view/16-3655