25 - Helping Young Carers stay connected - October 2020

This donation sees £500 split between 3 young carers, who are supported by the fantastic Sheffield Young Carers.

In these Covid restricted times having internet access has proved more valuable than ever in so many ways - ensuring we can stay connected with friends, family, work, school, giving us entertainment and access to the wider world when we cannot physically go out.  It’s something most of us probably take for granted.


Our £500 is going to make a big difference to these 3 young people.  We are going to be buying 2 routers and 9 months internet provision for 2 of them,  as well as a laptop for the third. 


Sheffield Young Carers (SYC) have kindly allowed us to share the stories of 2 of these young people who are going to benefit from our help.


Maryam


Maryam is 17 years old and cares for her mum who has mental health problems and physical

disabilities which affect her mobility. Her mum’s health means that she finds it very difficult to leave the house and needs help with practical tasks around the house, help to arrange and keep

appointments and emotional support to keep her company and make sure that she is ok. 


It is just Maryam, her brother and their mum at home and the rest of their family are abroad so they have a very limited support network. Maryam and her brother take it in turns to stay with their mum and, therefore, need to ensure their education and social life fit around their caring responsibilities. The family’s internet provision at home is really bad and this has a huge impact on them. 


Maryam is studying at college and during lockdown, when all classes and work moved online, she found it extremely difficult to be able to take part in classes and to submit her work due to the slowness of their internet, which sometimes meant that she was marked down for not completing work. 


As everything looks to remain online for the foreseeable future, their lack of internet provision is going to continue to be a huge barrier to Maryam accessing her education. During the pandemic

everything has moved online, from social groups to training, and so access to the internet is vital to allow young people to connect with friends, take part in activities and access resources and support.



All of the SYC groups are online at the moment and having better internet in place would allow

Maryam to access these and continue to see her friends from the project and have some time for

herself to relax and have fun. Maryam has exams coming up and is so happy that she will now have internet at home to help her study for these, she feels that it is going to make such a difference and would like to say a huge thank you to 500 Together for the funding for the internet.


Jayden


Jayden is 9 and helps to look after his mum who has depression, fibromyalgia and is being assessed for autism. He helps his mum around the house. The family do not have access to the internet which means that Jayden is not able to do many of the things that he would like to do online such as chat with his friends and play games. 


He has a lot of energy and loves to have fun but cannot always go out to play with his friends. Having access to the internet would give him more time to relax and have fun. Having internet access will mean that Jayden will not miss out on any of his learning if there are any more local lockdowns. 


Jayden was so happy to hear that they were going to be able to get internet access and is really looking forward to getting to play on his computer games!!! His mum was also really pleased and said it will be such a huge help.


We are buying a third young carer a laptop to help with school work, keep up with friends and have some down-time away from their caring responsibilities.  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

39 - Support for victims & survivors of Domestic Abuse - Rehouse to Rehome - February 2021

Image
For our latest donation we are sending £500 to Francine at  Rehouse to Rehome , a Sheffield based charity supporting and empowering victims and survivors of Domestic Abuse. Our £500 will go towards buying a cooker/fridge/ washing machine for a family that Francine is helping to rehome.  Francine tells us that she has seen a significant rise in requests for help since the beginning of the pandemic. Our donation has been very gratefully received and Francine has kindly sent us this powerful message explaining why: Not having essential household goods often becomes a real and practical barrier that prevents a survivor from leaving an abusive relationship. Even when individuals gather up the immense courage it takes to flee an abusive relationship and, if they are lucky enough to be re-housed by the authorities, there is a strong possibility that they will not get the financial support required to furnish that property with even the most basic of household goods which are a necessity in or
Read more

156 - Helping a mum & daughter settle into their new home - April 2023

This week we can tell you about donation 156, which has gone to A and her young daughter. After spending some time in a women's refuge, they have been living in temporary accommodation, waiting to be allocated council housing.  This has finally happened, but as is so often the case, the house they are expected to move into is unfurnished and uncarpeted.  We were able to put A in touch with some charities who could help her source some furniture and apply for funds to get carpets and she worked hard to do as much as she could to set up her new home, but asked if we could help her with the cost of getting blinds, as well as some home essentials, like an iron, ironing board and vacuum cleaner.  We were pleased to be able to send her £500 towards these items.   A has asked us to send her thanks to you all for supporting her and helping her and her daughter settle into their new home. We wish them all the best and as always feel very privileged to have been able to help.
Read more

118 - Helping SWWOP set up a 'flexi-pot' to allow them to support women in emergency situations.

We often say how lucky we are to have among our members people who work & volunteer in some of Sheffield’s extraordinary local organisations and charities.     We always welcome nominations from them - they see so much need on a daily basis, so when they ask for our help we know our contribution will make a difference. On this occasion SWWOP (Sheffield Working Women's Opportunities Project) , an organisation which provides intensive support to vulnerable women involved in street prostitution, asked if we could help them. SWWOP’s primary service is making contact with women involved in street prostitution and being a friendly face to offer non-judgmental and confidential support and information.  They provide street based outreach and drop in sessions, with an aim to improve the women’s health and safety.  https://www.swwop.org SWWOP told us that since the start of the cost-of-living crisis, they have seen the number of women they support involved in sex work almost triple.  Wom
Read more