Citizen fund helps racial harmony

Our MK Citizen Fund is helping to promote harmony and happiness among people from the city's many different cultures.

We have awarded £750 to set up a special breakfast club to promote social and cultural intergration.

The club, based at Conniburrow Pavilion, will be open to all MK residents, including refugees and migrants.

Organised by the Global Outreach Foundation MK, the breakfast project will be held this month on September 17 and 24.

The pavilion doors will open at 9.30am and a hot breakfast will be served to all who attend.

There will be guest speakers from the community plus opportunities to explore various activities including arts, crafts and workshops.

Global Outreach founder Mike Kasibo said: “MK is a fast-growing and diverse town. With this diversity can come many challenges. Moving to a new country with a totally different culture is a challenge on its own and trying to be part of the local community can seem overwhelming”

He added: “Sadly members of the local community struggle with the new arrivals, not knowing their culture of background. This can cause tensions, which prevents both cultural and social intergration.... We hope the breakfast club will go some way to bridging this gap.”

Breakfast club member and diabetes champion Adbul Rais: “We’re all human beings doing the best we can. The aim of the breakfast club is to get to know each other. I’m happy to contribute and share my knowledge.”

The Citizen allocated £12,000 at the start of this year to be split into monthly grants to worthy projects, community groups and charities all over MK.

The projects we’ve helped so far include a hard-up football club for youngsters in Bletchley, a panto group and a craft club in Fishermead.

The grants are distributed through the Milton Keynes Community Foundation.

For details, visit www.mkcommunityfoundation.co.uk