500 together

This week we have given £500 to a Sheffield couple with young children who have been re-housed but can't take much of their furniture or any carpets with them due to the terrible damage caused by extreme mould and damp conditions in their current accommodation which has made much of their furniture /carpets unusable. They have a lot on their plate at the moment and felt overwhelmed with the task of moving home, buying replacement things and providing for young children during lockdown. They have struggled financially and one of the things they really need is carpets for their new home. Thank you to our member who nominated them - we are very happy to provide £500 towards carpeting the house and we hope this goes a little way to get the family off to a good start in their new home.

  Donation 34 goes to OSMIS (One Stop Mentoring Inclusion Service), to help fund a sensory room for young people that they work with. OSMIS  is a Sheffield based not-for-profit service, which was set up 3 years ago to provide social and emotional help for vulnerable young people, specifically providing a 1-2-1 mentoring service for children who are struggling with school for various reasons. Young people are referred to  OSMIS  via schools and the Local Authority and their main focus is to work with young people, giving them space, time and support to build them back up so that ultimately they are able to go back to school.  With our donation, OSMIS are going to convert an office space into a sensory room, not only for those that have sensory issues or similar conditions, but also as a calming space for young people who are feeling generally stressed, anxious and overwhelmed.  Demand for help from OSMIS has doubled since the last big lockdown in March, and they are finding young people

This week our recipients, a mum and her young children, lost their husband/father to COVID. Family Voice, who do truly invaluable work supporting families in the Sharrow/ Nether Edge area, have been working with the family since the mum came to them in February 2020 for English classes.  The organisation has helped the family with food, essentials and furniture over the past few months, as they were struggling financially. Family Voice is going to use the £500 to help relieve some of the financial stress the family is going to have over the coming month and is also planning to use some of it to pay someone to support mum in her first language, as she grieves on her own, isolated at home with her children.