Cardinal Vincent Nichols has expressed his thanks to the Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation for its “exceptional and magnificent” £1 million donation to help Catholic charities cope with poverty related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Nichols, who is President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, called the donation “a remarkable gift given on behalf of a man of unique vision and determination by a generous foundation."
As part of an ongoing process to help charities deal with the marked increase in poverty caused by covid-19, the foundation teamed up with four other Metropolitan Archbishops to offer Catholic charities the chance to apply for emergency grants to support front-line initiatives such as food banks, food vouchers and crisis schemes targeting those most in need.
The grants were awarded as follows:
- Over £400,000 to strengthen the work of local food banks and the direct provision of food.
- Over £250,000 to augment programmes of food vouchers for the poorest impacted by covid-19.
- Over £335,000 for the immediate financial assistance of those in extreme circumstances.
The Catholic Church Bishops' Conference added that "38 applications were received for grants with proposals totalling over £2 million."
Cardinal Nichols added:
“On behalf of so many, I wish to express heartfelt thanks to the Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation for this exceptional and magnificent donation to such important work. In particular, I thank the Gubay family for their leadership in this remarkable gift which is in addition to the regular charitable giving of the foundation. I do so, not only on behalf of every bishop in England and Wales for the confidence it shows in the effectiveness of the charitable work of our Catholic charities, but much more importantly, on behalf of all those whose hardship will be alleviated by this outstanding generosity.
“In offering these words of thanks, I wish to emphasise the unique characteristic of this effort. All of it – all of this remarkable gift will be spent on the immediate relief of hardship, and, I stress, its effects will be felt across the whole of England and Wales.”
