500 together

Wow - here we are, with details of our 80th donation.  Thank you all so much for being a part of 500 together and helping us reach so many people. This week your £500 is supporting a local family from Sheffield to set up a permanent home after fleeing from domestic violence. The mum and children will finally be able to put down permanent roots in a community and be assured that they no longer need to escape an area and now have a safe and secure home to create a new life in. The family are being supported by a local community worker who will help them buy essentials for the house with our donation, as they had to leave with very little.

We were recently asked by one such member to give a small donation to OSMIS alternative provision to help buy equipment, pots, grow bags and seeds which would allow the young people who access their support the opportunity to start a little fruit and veg garden at their base. OSMIS offers 1:1 alternative  provision focussing on the social and emotional aspects of children's wellbeing, improving their attitude to education and learning. Many of the children they work with don’t choose fruit or veg among their food options and OSMIS hope that by growing their own they can not only encourage some interest in gardening, but also encourage them to eat the produce they grow.  We loved this idea and were pleased to send £100 to get them started and are impressed with the results so far.

We are pleased to be back with news of donation number 78.  This time £500 goes to   Lilies Clothes Bank , to buy some new kids underwear, socks and young girls' crop tops - the kind of items that you need to buy new but really make the bills add up for families buying them.  Lilies clothes bank started up in January 2021, after one of the volunteers at Grace foodbank saw that families in the area (some of whom were being helped by the foodbank), were also struggling for essential clothes and warm clothing in the middle of lockdown and an extremely cold winter.  Every Monday since then, Lilies clothes bank has been operating in Jordanthorpe, helping families in receipt of benefits/ free school meals and individuals in hardship with clothes and has also run several clothing 'events', with a theme - school uniform, baby clothes, small children's clothes. At Christmas time they gave away lots of warm clothing and winter coats alongside food bank donations.  All in ...

  We don't think anyone has forgotten that whilst the plight of Ukrainians is rightly front and centre of the news, the challenges faced by the people from Afghanistan is still a very real and pressing issue. With this latest £500 donation, we are really pleased to be able to help an Afghan family of 5: Mum, Dad and three children 9, 7 and 2, who have been resettled in Sheffield.  Social services have sorted some very basic furniture for them, but a charity that is working with them has said that a TV and TV license would help their home life become more comfortable, help with the English language and link them to the outside world.  When they were told that  500 together  would help them, they asked for a small TV so that they could also get a toaster and a microwave for the same amount of money.   They are so grateful for the help they have received and say thank you to everyone at  500 together.