Posts

176 - Support for a mum & kids fleeing domestic abuse - Sept 24

This week we can tell you about donation 176 which has helped a mum and her kids who have fled from domestic abuse. When our member contacted us, they explained she had left her family home and she and her kids were sleeping on the floor of a friend’s one bedroom flat.    She is being supported to find housing, but negotiating for these services is sadly becoming increasingly hard.  There is so little provision. Where they are currently living is so far away from schools the kids attend, so they are having to get buses    - which mum is struggling to pay for. They cannot apply for bus passes until they get temporary housing - and even then there will be a waiting time and no guarantee of success.    Our member had calculated that a month of bus travel to school for the kids would be around £350 and asked if we might be able to help. This lady has clearly taken such a brave step to leave her home and now faces such an uncertain time with her kids as they try to find work out their next
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175 - Helping family clear debts after traumatic events - Sept 24

  This week we have sent £500 to T, a mum with 4 children under 14yrs,     2 of whom have additional needs and all of whom have been through a lot of trauma.  T was hospitalised by her abusive ex and in a coma for 6 weeks.  He is now in prison but T and the children have had to start again from scratch.      Their situation is very difficult and they have fallen into debt trying to keep up with bills.  Her nominator has seen the letters threatening bailiffs and the removal of things like the family tv etc .   It is just so difficult for families to cope financially in situations like this and we are pleased to have been able to support our member who made this nomination to help T clear her debts and hopefully find a way to move forward.  We wish her and her family all the best.
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174 - Funding for a specialist scan - Sept 24

  Our friends at SHASBAH  (Sheffield Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus - a Sheffield charity which helps people affected by spina bifida and/or hydrocephalus) asked if we could help one of their members J who needed to travel to London to access a specialist standing scan machine for a heart condition. This is at a personal cost to her of £633 as it is not offered in Sheffield.  Our member explained the financial pressure paying for this would have on J and we were pleased to be able to step in to help with £500 towards the costs involved. J has sent this lovely message: ‘I would like to thank you very much for the grant you’ve so kindly provided for me for my heart monitor, it means so much to me and is very much appreciated that you would do this for me as it will help with my ongoing heart problems and hopefully help me get the correct treatment from my doctor.’ As always thank you for your continued support of 500 together.  We do feel we are seeing a rise in nominatio
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173 - funding a film raising awareness of challenges faced by women in recovery - Sept 24

One of our members, Tracey,     is chair of Sheffield Recovery Community and told us about some of the remarkable women within the group who taken part in some international research and  joined the Global Gender Committee   Global Gender Committee (former Gender Working Group) - World Federation Against Drugs (wfad.se)  which in turn  inspired them to launch  Sheffield Women's Individual Personal Experience Recovery Network ( SWIPE)  -  a group founded BY women with lived experience of being in recovery FOR women who are thinking about or who are in recovery. As part of the launch and to help promote their new network   they wanted to produce a short film to raise awareness about some of the challenges women face in recovery and to reduce the stigma and encourage more women to seek support.  They also hoped to submit the film into this year’s annual  Recovery Street Film Festival (rsff.co.uk)  - which has the theme ‘ Belonging ’.   When she came to us, Tracey had been unsuccessful
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172 - Buying gym clothes for teenage asylum seekers - Aug 2024

  We are pleased to be back with news of donation   172 . With this week's donation we are grateful to our member who linked us up with Mums United ( www.mums-united.com ) , a local group who specialise in helping the most vulnerable  young people, women and groups in Sheffield against rising youth violence and drug exploitation.  Mums United have been working with a group of 17 year old asylum seekers, carrying out sessions to improve their self esteem and give them hope that this is a safe place to live.   They have recently started to access gyms within the Sheffield City Trust and we were asked if we could fund some gym clothing for them which will allow them to feel more comfortable attending sessions.   We were really happy to help and have sent £500 for Mums United to get suitable clothing for the group and hope the young people enjoy accessing the gyms in Sheffield.
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171 - helping Iranian refugee family with bills - Aug 2024

This week, with donation   171 ,  we have been able to help a refugee family from Iran who moved to the UK in September 2022. Our member is supporting this family through their work for the charity Shelter. The family had recently had to relocate within Sheffield after being moved from their previous home due to racist abuse, harassment and an assault from their previous neighbours. The family are happy in their new area but mum has a number of physical and mental health issues that create daily difficulties for her and she is very grateful to have some support.   The family has three children, all in school – Y10, Y7 and Y5. Our member told us that they had recently attended a meeting at secondary school with mum. They reported that whilst her sons were finding some aspects of learning difficult due to the language barrier, their effort at school was outstanding and they were both working really hard.  The father works part-time in a local restaurant and the family currently have no d
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170 - Clothes for a Kurdish refugee family - August 2024

After the events of this week, it seems timely we are able to share news of donation   170 , which has gone to help out a Kurdish family who are refugees, recently arrived in Sheffield - with nothing. They are a single mother, a 16 year old girl and a 13 year old boy. The boy is waiting to be given a school place and the girl is waiting on a college place.   We want to give a big thank you to the efforts communities in Sheffield are making to support refugees. Our member who has made this nomination is involved with one of the fabulous organisations operating in Sheffield, which do so much to support and keep people safe in our city.  We are grateful for all they do, and are always ready to get involved when they ask us for some support.   We have sent the family £500 which they have used primarily to buy much needed clothes, including uniform for school/college, so that they are ready to go when the places are provided,  Our member has reported back that they have managed to buy a lot
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