London Gatwick contributes £14,000 to support Crawley families
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The funding includes £8,990 from the London Gatwick Foundation Fund and £5,000 from the VINCI UK Foundation.
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London Gatwick welcomed 13 families who use FreeShop Crawley to its STEM centre to take part in educational and career-related activities.
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The airport is also supporting FreeShop’s Christmas stocking event.
London Gatwick has contributed £13,990 to support families in financial hardship through its partnership with charity FreeShop Crawley.
Thanks to funding secured by a London Gatwick colleague, £8,990 was granted from the London Gatwick Foundation Fund and £5,000 from the VINCI UK Foundation.
FreeShop provides essential services to more than 600 people every week, offering food, mental health support, professional services and community engagement - crucial resources that help families rise out of poverty.
Barry Cullen, London Gatwick’s Employment and Skills Lead, nominated FreeShop for the VINCI UK Foundation funding, while the charity also successfully applied for a grant through the London Gatwick Foundation Fund.
Barry Cullen, Employment and Skills Lead, London Gatwick said: “I am proud to work with London Gatwick to support FreeShop in their vital mission to uplift local families. Having grown up in an area similar to parts of Crawley, I have witnessed first-hand the challenges faced by families living in poverty.
“I had the opportunity to learn more about FreeShop’s impactful work at a recent event and felt an immediate connection to their cause. I firmly believe every family deserves access to the resources to rise out of poverty.”
Laura-Jane Wainwright, CEO and Project Development Manager, FreeShop said: “The support from London Gatwick has been invaluable in helping local families navigate difficult circumstances. With this funding, we can cover core costs like rent, storage, accountancy, and venue hire, as well as purchase craft supplies, storage for toys, and essential kitchen items.”
During October half-term, London Gatwick welcomed 13 families who use FreeShop to its STEM centre (Science Technology Engineering and Maths). London Gatwick colleagues led STEM-related activities for children and engaged with parents about the career opportunities available at the airport.
In December, London Gatwick’s Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) team will volunteer at the FreeShop hub in Bewbush to organise gifts for their Christmas stocking event.
London Gatwick is investing in its long-term future. The examination phase of the airport’s planning application to bring its existing Northern Runway into routine use has now concluded, with a decision expected to follow in early 2025. London Gatwick’s low-impact plan will improve resilience, reduce delays, and provide a significant boost to the national and regional economy by supporting trade, tourism, and new jobs.
With 41 million annual passengers, London Gatwick is the UK’s second largest and one of Europe’s top ten airports. It is a vital piece of national infrastructure that drives both the national and regional economies by generating £5.5 billion GVA and supporting over 76,000 jobs (2023). Almost 60 airlines fly from the airport to over 150 short-haul and more than 50 long-haul destinations. With a declared capacity of 55 movements an hour, London Gatwick is the most efficient single runway airport in the world.
The airport is located 28 miles south of the UK capital and is extremely well-connected, with more than a quarter of England’s population (15 million people) – including all of London – less than one hour away by road or rail. A six-year, £2 billion sustainable growth programme includes an ambitious plan to be a net zero airport by 2030 and to increase capacity by bringing the airport’s existing Northern Runway into routine use, alongside its Main Runway. Vinci Airports owns a 50.01% stake in the airport, with Global Infrastructure Partners managing the remaining 49.99%.
The world’s leading private airport operator, VINCI Airports operates more than 70 airports in 14 countries. Thanks to its expertise as a global integrator, VINCI Airports develops, finances, builds and manages airports by providing its investment capacity and its know-how in optimizing operational performance, modernizing infrastructure and managing their operations and environmental transition. VINCI Airports is the first airport operator to have committed to an international environmental strategy in 2016, to achieve the goal of net zero emissions across its entire network by 2050.
For more information:
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is a leading infrastructure investor that specializes in investing in, owning and operating some of the largest and most complex assets across the energy, transport, digital infrastructure and water and waste management sectors. With decarbonization central to our investment thesis, we are well positioned to support the global energy transition. Headquartered in New York, GIP has offices in Brisbane, Dallas, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, Mumbai, Singapore, Stamford and Sydney.
GIP has approximately $115 billion in assets under management. Our portfolio companies have combined annual revenues of approximately $71 billion and employ over 116,000 people. We believe that our focus on real infrastructure assets, combined with our deep proprietary origination network and comprehensive operational expertise, enables us to be responsible stewards of our investors' capital and to create positive economic impact for communities. For more information, visit www.global-infra.com.
London Gatwick contributes to the VINCI UK Foundation each year, supporting projects that promote social cohesion and fight exclusion. The projects are sponsored by colleagues as part of a wider VINCI network initiative to promote work in local communities.
For more information visit the VINCI UK Foundation website.
The London Gatwick Foundation Fund is managed by individual Community Foundations for Kent, Sussex and Surrey on behalf of London Gatwick, which oversees the programme and assesses all applications.
Each year, there are three rounds of grants, which are split equally between Sussex, Surrey and Kent.
Since it was founded in 2016, the London Gatwick Foundation Fund has made more than £1.7m in donations, which support local grassroots community and voluntary projects that make a difference to people’s lives and meet local need.
It operates in Sussex across Crawley, Horsham, Mid Sussex and Wealden, in Surrey across Reigate and Banstead, Tandridge and Mole Valley, and in Kent across Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks.
For more information visit: https://www.gatwickairport.com/company/community/funding.html
