No plans to stop helping people as foundation celebrates second anniversary

The Elias Mattu Foundation was launched in August of 2019 in memory of the councillor for Graiseley and 159th Mayor of Wolverhampton, who died after a period of illness in May 2018.

It aimed to continue his legacy of community work and helping to improve the lives of elderly people, victims of domestic violence and many other groups.

Since it began, the focus of the foundation has switched to helping the community through its food bank due to the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 500 families benefitting from its services.

Mr Mattu's widow, former councillor Asha Mattu, said it was brilliant to see the foundation still going strong after two years, but also reflected on the increased need for help from the community.

She said: "It's brilliant to know that we've been around for two years and we're still providing for the community and still helping those who most need it.

"It is also sad, in a way, that so many people are still using the food bank at present as we had hoped that the numbers would drop due to the lifting of restrictions, but they haven't.

"We're getting more and more referrals for help and are also taking on the free school meals for children out of school as well, so it's still a busy time, albeit good to know we're helping out community."

Councillor Mattu said the intentions for the foundation had been much broader at the beginning, but had been dominated in the last year due to the effects of the pandemic.

She said that as the pandemic began to move to an end, the foundation would begin to move back to the original spirit of what it intended to do.

She said: "We will aim to being doing things with the elderly and young people and putting out projects in the community to combat things such as social isolation and put things on for families to enjoy.

"It's not just food we'll continue to provide as we work more with domestic violence victims and provide them with all the essentials they need.

"Elias was always there for the community and I think he would be happy about what we're doing to continue to support the community and help people."

Councillor Mattu also spoke about the future plans for the foundation.

She said: "The next step for us is getting a bigger premises because we have outgrown our current premises on Owen Road, so we are looking to go bigger as we head into the third year.

"We're not planning on going anywhere and we will continue to serve the community in any way we can."

To find out more, go to facebook.com/eliasmattufoundation/.