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228 - Support for mum & son to buy basics - November 2025

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  One of our members asked if we could help N, a single parent who has been seeking asylum in the UK for over 10 years, with the Home Office repeatedly delaying a decision on her refugee status. She and her severely autistic son are in receipt of Section 95 support (currently around 2 x £49.18 a week). A lot of the financial support she does receive has to be spent on transport, especially since N struggles with early onset arthritis - and it doesn’t leave much for food, necessities, internet bills, clothes for her growing son, etc. N is clearly struggling so we spoke to her nominator to find out how we could help most effectively. We decided to give £500 which will help pay for 4 months bus passes for N and her son. This means she has the security of that expense being met, leaving her able to use her benefits for other essentials. There was also a little extra which allowed N to take her son on a birthday treat and buy him a cake to help him celebrate turning 8! Happy Birthday...
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227 - Support for local charity Family Voice - November 2025

  Our latest donation has allowed us to send £500 to the fabulous local organisation Family Voice - Sheffield , who work with women in the Sharrow, Lowfield and Nether Edge area of Sheffield. 350 local migrant women come to Family Voice every year. About 60 come every week. Women come and find a safe space where they connect with others and build their confidence and skills. The far right rhetoric is getting louder and it's harder for migrant women to find a place where they feel they really belong. Benefits no longer cover the cost of living and women face complex barriers to good health and equal opportunities. Family Voice run about ten different courses - free, trauma informed, women only classes. And they provide about 16 hours of one to one support a week. They do all this on the equivalent of 3 full time posts. They really are exceptional value for money! They also have a food social enterprise called Ammi's Kitchen a strengths based project which has, in the last year...
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226 - Money for a mum and her son who are struggling financially - October 2025

With donation 226 we have helped a mum and her young son who are really struggling financially.  With the support of their Social Prescribing Link Worker, we have given them £500 which they will use to buy food and basic provisions for as long as it lasts. We cannot share any details, but Vicki had the pleasure of meeting her to organise the donation.  Her situation is truly dreadful and whilst the money we are able to give her won't change that, it was clear what a boost it gave her.  There is no doubt she will use our donation very carefully and she was so very grateful to know that our group of strangers wanted to help her.   We don't often get to meet our recipients in person.  It is always very special when that happens, and we wish her and her son the very best and hope their situation improves very soon. A big thank you to the member who made the nomination - it was also great to meet you and your team and get a glimpse of the ama...
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225 - Paying for enrolment on an OU computer course - October 2025

We were asked if we could help a man being supported by our member involved with Waythrough, a charity which offers free, confidential support for mental health, alcohol, drugs, housing and related areas.   This man has worked incredibly hard on his recovery and was keen to do a Level 4 accredited computer course run by the Open University.    The qualification will give him a better chance at employment once he leaves the support of Waythrough, whilst at the same time helping his mental health, giving him something to focus on and improve his confidence and feeling of self worth.  We were asked to pay the £100 needed for the course.    A small donation which we were so happy to arrange and are pleased to hear just how much this meant to the man, who is now enrolled on the course.    Our donations come in different sizes for so many different recipients.    We love that our members think of us when they see ways our donations might be ab...
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224 - Buying an electric wheelchair to give someone greater freedom to get out - October 2025

With donation 224 we have been able to support someone nominated by one of our members who works at a Darnall Wellbeing - a local community health organisation. Our member told us about E - a lady who has health struggles and is housebound,  unable to leave her property on her own because she has a hand manual wheelchair and cannot self push herself.  She does not feel the care she receives is adequate for her needs and like so many people, she is frustrated with the available services, being sent from door to door repeating the same things. Due to this E suffers from low mood, anxiety and social isolation.  E has now sent a PIP application but it can take up to 6 months for PIP claims to conclude and she may not be successful. Due to the complexity of her multiple diagnosis, there are continuous delays within the NHS, who are often unable to find suitable appointment times fitting in with the client...
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223 - Bed and freezer for a family in need - October 2025

  With our latest donation we have helped a family - a parent and 2 adult children, one of whom has a disability - who are living in financial hardship, with significant debts.    They are receiving advice and working with a debt charity to get on top of this, but despite 2 of the family being in work there just isn't any money left to put aside for any larger household items.   St Vincents were recently able to provide 2 single beds, but this left the 3rd adult on a blow up mattress, which she was struggling on, and they were also in need of a chest freezer. Our member, who is involved with the organisation supporting them, asked if we could send £390, which would pay for a single divan bed and mattress as well as a freezer. Of course we were happy to help. As always, we send out a big thank you to you all for continuing to support us at 500 together.    We do believe that now more than ever, our small acts of collective kindness are so valuable - not just...
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222 - New uniform and an oven - Sept 2025

  With the new school year starting, one of our members asked if we could help with the expense of buying new uniforms for a family's 4 children.  In addition their oven has recently broken, so we have sent £500 to help them replace the oven and get the children kitted out for school. We know how expensive even the most basic school uniforms can be, but how important having the right clothing is for children's self esteem and confidence at school.  We were pleased to be able to help and send the family our very best wishes. Thank you as ever for continuing to support us.  It means such a lot to be able to step in and help when we get nominations like this one.  Keep sending in the nominations.  We are ready to help wherever we can.
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