Our Projects

Although The PFC Trust was founded by Patrick and Frances Connolly to support and enrich the lives of all sections of the community where they lived for 25 years, the Trust is actually the work of a group of likeminded and dedicated people whose purpose is to help community groups achieve their goals, fulfil their ambitions and reach their potential. The aim of the Trust is to support, and help become sustainable, projects within the community which are already delivering services which enhance the life experiences of their service users. The intent is to invest in those projects which need a boost to reach a wider audience within the community and make their work a little easier with cash injections where appropriate. What differentiates this charity is our engagement with the projects we help. We are genuinely interested in their long term futures. We are committed to building connections with and between the groups for mutual support.

Hartlepool Sport CIC

The PFC Trust was set-up with a broad mission of ‘helping Hartlepool people’. Within a short time, it was identified that ‘Sport’ was a major element of the Trust’s focus. Parallel to the Trust being created, a series of discussions were held between Hartlepool Borough Council, Hartlepool United Football Club, Hartlepool College of Further Education, LoveHartlepool representatives and The PFC Trust.

Subsequently, on 10th February 2020, The PFC Trust board agreed to fund a scoping study to discover the best use of its resources within sport in Hartlepool, to support clubs and to support the preventative agenda for health and wellbeing with the ultimate aim of making the sport-arm self-sustaining. Following the completion of the study, and presentation to the PFC Trust's Trustees, Hartlepool Sport CIC was established on 1st September 2020.

Hartlepool College

Following the establishment of The PFC Trust, the first Hartlepool organisation to benefit was Hartlepool College of Further Education.

Further details about this historic project will be available here shortly...

The Poolie Time Exchange

which connects people with skills (‘Achievers’) to others who could benefit from them.
Achievers earn "Poolie Pounds" which they can then 'spend' on ‘resources’ such as trial
job interviews, obtaining on-the-job experience, energy advice, and CVs and training courses.
Achievers may also get references from the people they have provided support to.

St Aidens Kitchen

The Trust provided a grant to the soup kitchen at St Aidan's Church as they were running very low on supplies. The amazing work carried out here by Mother Gemma and the dedicated volunteers was humbling to see and the Trust was proud to be part of it. And we stayed in touch. We provided another grant to fund their fantastic Christmas Day, where all of their guests got a hot meal as well as Christmas treats and festive spirit. We then looked at how they could obtain regular donations of food through existing charities and organisations and they have gone from strength to strength.

Hartlepool Carers

In addition to a Covid-19 financial grant, the support provided by the Trust during National Carers Week meant that Hartlepool Carers were able to celebrate their fantastic carers, and offer them some special rewards for their non-stop commitment and dedication to their roles.

Hartlepower

Hartlepower is a charity setup to provide a Voluntary & Community Sector (VCS) service to groups, social enterprises, charities and Hartlepool businesses.

"It has been refreshing to work with The PFC Trust since they established, a very progressive and dynamic organisation who are truly inspirational in terms of their support to sustainable locally routed projects. The PFC Trust are really big on networking and partnerships, linking ideas with doers and projects with groups, some of the collaborative working they have already undertaken has been unheard of, in particular the capacity and professional support they have provided to groups and individuals to get projects off the ground. We can’t wait to see how the trust develops, if the first year is anything to go by the sector in Hartlepool will certainly be an even better and brighter place".

Hartlepool Heroes

Do you know of someone who always goes the extra mile? Someone who is out and about in their local community, always ready to help their neighbours, their friends, their town? Someone who is exceptional, either in their job, or in a voluntary capacity, and deserves recognition as a Hartlepool Hero?

If Covid and the "Cost of Living Crisis" has taught us anything it is that community is everything and during the difficult times we need each other more than ever. Throughout the pandemic people across Hartlepool made the difference every day – whether through working on the front line in health and social care, transport, education, emergency services, essential retail and local service provision, or by volunteering locally to make sure that vulnerable people shielding from the virus still got their shopping done, their prescriptions picked up and that there was someone to talk to.

UChangeLives

A typical carer spends 25 hours a week caring for loved ones. Taking this statistic as a starting point, The PFC Trust has launched a new fundraising initiative for 2021 based around the number 25. Initially, we are aiming to raise £50,000 to fund a new caravan for Hartlepool Carers, with additional sums being used as part of the Trust's Covid-19 response.

LEARN MORE ABOUT HARTLEPOOL SPORT