500 together

  One of our members asked if we could help N, a single parent who has been seeking asylum in the UK for over 10 years, with the Home Office repeatedly delaying a decision on her refugee status. She and her severely autistic son are in receipt of Section 95 support (currently around 2 x £49.18 a week). A lot of the financial support she does receive has to be spent on transport, especially since N struggles with early onset arthritis - and it doesn’t leave much for food, necessities, internet bills, clothes for her growing son, etc. N is clearly struggling so we spoke to her nominator to find out how we could help most effectively. We decided to give £500 which will help pay for 4 months bus passes for N and her son. This means she has the security of that expense being met, leaving her able to use her benefits for other essentials. There was also a little extra which allowed N to take her son on a birthday treat and buy him a cake to help him celebrate turning 8! Happy Birthday...

  Our latest donation has allowed us to send £500 to the fabulous local organisation Family Voice - Sheffield , who work with women in the Sharrow, Lowfield and Nether Edge area of Sheffield. 350 local migrant women come to Family Voice every year. About 60 come every week. Women come and find a safe space where they connect with others and build their confidence and skills. The far right rhetoric is getting louder and it's harder for migrant women to find a place where they feel they really belong. Benefits no longer cover the cost of living and women face complex barriers to good health and equal opportunities. Family Voice run about ten different courses - free, trauma informed, women only classes. And they provide about 16 hours of one to one support a week. They do all this on the equivalent of 3 full time posts. They really are exceptional value for money! They also have a food social enterprise called Ammi's Kitchen a strengths based project which has, in the last year...