500 together

This week we sent £100 to Artfelt at the Sheffield Children’s Hospital. Artfelt transforms the hospital’s walls and spa ces with bright art, helping children recover in an environment tailored to them. In normal times the programme puts on workshops for youngsters to provide distraction during anxious moments - such as before an operation and to break up long stays on the ward. Unfortunately because of Covid-19, Artfelt is unable to deliver its works hops right now, but of course the hospital is still open and children are still there, receiving care and Artfelt are working hard to ensure they continue to reach out and provide comfort to them. As with so many of these small local charities, this is a very difficult time for fundraising and we are pleased to be able to put something towards their work. We are sending £100 towards their ‘ Artfelt Anywhere ’ initiative, providing art activity packs to patients in hospital whilst they are unable to facilitate their usual workshop acti

Our latest donation goes to M and her 10 year old daughter. M is a refugee from Zambia. A small Sheffield charity called ‘City of Sanctuary’ have been giving her and her daughter as much support as they can, but they told our 500 Together nominator how much M is struggling. M has heart disease, is recovering from Covid-19 and is generally hav ing a really tough time. We have sent M £250 - including £50 Boots vouchers to pay for some of the medication she needs, £100 supermarket vouchers for provisions and some cash, which M says will be particularly useful for paying for mobile phone top ups and transport. Members of our admin team have also donated some clothes & bedding for M’s daughter, so we hope all our 500 Together combined efforts go some way to offer a helping hand to M and her daughter at this really difficult time.

The week we sent £250 to  Firefly - a Doncaster based cancer awareness and support charity which offers free transport to cancer patients and their families to get to regional treatment hospitals. From the personal experience of its founder, Denise Dunn, Firefly recognised that one of the difficulties faced by cancer patients who are undergoing long-term treatments was the issue of getting to and from hospitals - driving or having to ask to be driven and then finding somewhere to park in time for an appointment. Additional stresses at an already incredibly stressful time. Since starting out in 2006, Firefly has built up a fleet of 8 vehicles, which are manned purely by volunteers. Their services help the patient and almost as importantly the patient’s family, friends and carers who don't have to worry about, often very, regular trips to and from the hospital for treatment. With the current social distancing requirements, they have had to reduce passenger loads from 7 to just 2 pas