500 together

  We are pleased to be back with news of donation   196 . With this £500 donation we are pleased to be able to support  Baby Basics - a local charity who  support  new mothers and families with new babies who are struggling to meet the financial and practical burden of looking after a new baby. They provide support to people including, but not limited to, teenage mums, people seeking asylum and women fleeing domestic abuse and trafficking.  Our member who nominated the charity for our help explained that Baby Basics are reliant on donations of toiletries and clothing and equipment to support families, but one group of items that very rarely gets donated, and represents their most significant outgoing at the moment is baby formula, bottles and sterilisers.   In Jan 2025 the service provided:  32 sets of 6 bottles 31 sterilisers 44 boxes of formula   A steriliser costs about £10, a box of formula costs around £9 and a set of bottles c...

  One of our members asked if we could help S, who recently collapsed in pain, ending up in A&E with a bulging disc in her lower back.  Now back home, she is on crutches, in  immense pain with the disc and sciatica so she can't work - which is a big problem for them as she is self employed.  Her husband works shifts in a local hospital and is taking on more shifts to cover their bills.  She also has problems with her son who has adhd and under support as he often struggles to be able to go to school. Her teenage daughter is trying to help as much as possible but is low and worries about her mum.  We’ve sent £500 to S to pay for some physio to hopefully speed her recovery and return to work and to pay for a cleaner to help the whole family.  Please remember to send in your nominations - this one is a good example of how our donations might be able to help to ease things for a family in their hour of need and perhaps avo...

One of our members asked if we could help a family being supported by a fantastic local community group Darnall Well Being. Last year the family's 16-year-old daughter was involved in a road traffic accident. She  sustained multiple fractures and a brain injury. Her sister, who is four years older, has given up work to care for her and has moved back into the family home. However, limited space in the home means the sisters have had to share a very old double bed with a couple of blankets for cover. This is clearly uncomfortable and challenging for both sisters. We were pleased to help by paying £490 to fund single beds and bedding for the sisters.  Our member has explained how much this will significantly improve the health and well-being of both sisters.  It will certainly allow for a better recovery and more capacity to care.  As always, we are glad we could help and are grateful to our member for sending us this nomination.

With donation 193, we are pleased to have been able to help out a family with 2 teenagers, supported by a local charity, who are moving to a new property.     This is a temporary move but they are unclear at this time how long they will be in this property.  The property is unfurnished and there are no carpets down on the floor. The family have been helped to get some furniture, but needed help to get a cooker and some carpeting - things that they will be able to take with them as and when they have to move again.  We were pleased to be able to send £500 to allow the support workers to have a cooker installed and get some rugs and roll ends of carpets to make their home more comfortable.

Donation 192 has gone to help an Afghan teenager, who plays in the member’s local cricket club, in his attempts to reunite with surviving members of his family. After Afghanistan fell to Taliban rule in 2021, the boy was forced to flee the country when his older brothers were killed, serving in the national army. He spent weeks hiding as Taliban members entered his village and called at his home. He spent the next six months travelling to Europe and arrived in the UK in March 2022, after a difficult and dangerous journey, and he was dispersed to Sheffield and placed in foster care. After 10 months he was given refugee status in the UK. His parents had stayed in Afghanistan to look after his young nephews, but in 2023 they both died, leaving the nephews homeless and without support, and dependent on food from the local mosque. Money was sent back to a neighbour who eventually took the boys in and cared for them, providing money could be sent for all their needs. Friends who are supporti...

We are pleased to be back with news of donation 191. As you know, any paying member can make a nomination for an individual, a family or a local organisation to receive a donation of up to £500.   This week someone asked for £140 to help a  single mother, who lives in Sheffield with a young child, who really needs financial support from a family reunion solicitor to help her appeal her application to get her older son to the UK. We understand how difficult these applications are and we’re happy to help with these appeal costs and hope she is successful in this initial stage of the process, allowing her to pursue the next steps. We very much hope she can eventually be reunited with her son.