500 together

D onation 112. One of our members told us about a person they were supporting who had a number of safety issues developing in their home. Sometimes the circumstances of our recipients mean we are unable to share too many of the details of their situation. That is always fine - our purpose is to help where we can and we always want our members to know they can nominate without the need for full details to be shared publicly. This is one such case, but we are so pleased our £500 has helped to make this person's home safer and encouraged them to trust and engage further with the support being offered by our member. As is so often the case, our donations have wider reaching consequences than we realise.

  Donation number   111   goes to a Sheffield family of five, with 3 children under 10, who unfortunately suffered a major house flood. The damage was so bad that the council had to move them initially into temporary accommodation and then from there into a new home. As a result of the flood, they have lost most of their furniture, possessions and clothing. Whilst their community worker is helping them access council funding pots for situations like this, this involves application forms, providing receipts for possessions and at least 17 days to hear about a decision, so they asked if 500 together could help the family to purchase a new sofa. Insurance is often something that many families have cut back on too, so was not an option.   We were very happy to help ease the stress and burden for the family and we hope they are settling into their new home and wish them all the best.  Once again this is a great example of how immediate the help of 500 together can be - we can get funds out

We are pleased this week to be able to share news of donation 110 of £500 which has gone to Lilies Clothes Bank, a Sheffield charity that supports those in need of secondhand clothing.   One of the organisers explained how much they could do with some sturdy shelving racks to safely store and organise their stock and showed us how they were managing with boxes stacked on top of each other.   This made accessing different sets of clothes, particularly those boxes at the bottom of the stack,  really difficult for their volunteers.   We were delighted to be able to help and - as the before and after photos show -  we can see the improvement the shelving has made.  It makes them so much more efficient in meeting the specific needs of the increasing number of families requiring their support to be properly clothed. The organiser sent us this message of thanks: “Well the shelves are up and the relabelling done! Today it was SOOOO much easier and safer to work in Lilies. All the volunteers lo

One of our members asked if we could help Jane. Jane is a single parent with two young children, aged 6 & 3.  She is an apprentice in a local preschool, working 37.5 hours per week, studying Maths and English, whilst also completing her childcare studies.  She is trying to make a better future for herself and her children.  As an apprentice Jane earns a low apprenticeship wage, she has rent to pay and this, as well as the rising cost of living, means she struggles financially every day. The family’s washing machine has recently broken. Jane tried to fix it herself, to no avail. She bought a new part for it but this also has not worked. She is in desperate need of a new washing machine but does not have the finances for it.  She is currently bringing her own uniform and her son’s school uniform to nursery for her colleagues to take home and wash. Anyone who has had their washing machine break down will know the impact of that, but for Jane, who already suffers with low mood and depr