New fund to help victims as Boris announces £20m boost to rebuilding work

Appeal for help: Ken Bowen and Yvonne Simmons lost their home

Families and businesses still suffering in the wake of the riots today received a double boost as the Treasury pledged a £20 million rebuilding package and a charity launched a new relief fund.

To donate to We Love London:
visit: justgiving.com/lovelondonappeal

text: LOND95 to 70070
visit: www.cravify.com

London Mayor Boris Johnson and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles today announced that a further £20 million would go to the worst riot-ravaged areas of Tottenham and Croydon on top of the £50 million London-wide regeneration fund ring-fenced by City Hall.

The London Enterprise Fund will focus on the regeneration of the capital's worst-hit areas and Mr Johnson today said that "with this support from Government, we can not only restore these town centres but create better, more prosperous places to live, work and invest in".

The news comes as a charity announced it is aiming to raise tens of thousands of pounds so it can hand out "hardship grants" to independent shops and people who lost their homes and livelihoods when thugs rampaged through the capital.

The fundraising bid, called We Love London, comes in response to the Evening Standard's call to support small shopkeepers and rebuild the high streets ransacked by yobs.

But it also hopes to give out grants to families, couples and individuals who need help to repair what they have lost. The money will be distributed by The Capital Community Foundation, one of the Standard's Dispossessed Fund partners.
The charity is contacting local volunteer centres, housing associations and local authorities to find out where the grants are most needed.

The organisation, which has already raised £25,000, may also look to fund charities and community projects working on the prevention of violence.

Deutsche Bank is one of the appeal's key backers and Kate Cavelle, its director of corporate citizenship UK, said: "Helping people build self-supporting structures is the basis of Deutsche Bank's social commitment. This is why we are delighted to support the We Love London appeal.

"In times like this, we know that getting donations to the right people as efficiently as possible takes real work. This is why we are also paying for the administration costs of running this appeal, to ensure that 100 per cent of all other donations go directly to the cause."

Other City firms including Linklaters, Clifford Chance and Weil, Gotshal & Manges have also contributed.

A pensioner couple made homeless after rioters burned down their block of flats were the first people to apply for one of the hardship grants.

Ken Bowen and Yvonne Simmons are living in temporary accommodation after fleeing their smoke-filled building after hooligans set fire to the Carperight store in Tottenham. They were left with nothing but the clothes they were wearing.

Mr Bowen, 68, a part-time bus driver, said: "We were just left to burn. There is nothing left. All the memories, mementoes and treasures are gone. Everything I have ever possessed."

He added: "If we were able to receive this grant we would at least be able to buy some clothes."
Sonal Shah, executive director of The Capital Community Foundation, said: "There has been a fantastic response so far with £25,000 raised.

And we are delighted that the Evening Standard Save Our Shops campaign is backing this as it will help us to raise more funds."

To donate to We Love London:
visit: justgiving.com/lovelondonappeal

text: LOND95 to 70070
visit: www.cravify.com

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