500 together

We are pleased to be back with news of donation 269. With this donation we have helped a mum who has escaped domestic abuse after her husband became an addict and started stealing and ended up in prison. With support, she has achieved so much in the last few years - getting her status, going to college, moving into a council house etc but recently she has started having panic attacks and anxiety. Sometimes it takes until you feel really safe for the trauma to come through. As a result she hasn't been able to attend her universal credit meetings or keep up with their demands and they have sanctioned her payments. This is obviously creating more stress. She hasn't even got the money for the bus fare to take her children to school. We have sent £500 which will allow her to buy a bus pass for the children for a month, have money for food and pay some bills at least. Our member is supporting her and hopefully they will be successful in getting her benefits reinstated. ...

One of our members told us about a family who needed some 500 together help. The family have twins - one of whom was born with a serious health condition and has been in hospital for the first 3 months of his life . He is still having ongoing treatment with the hospital and is awaiting a stomach operation. Dad is working, but is on a low income. Mum was working, but is now unable to work due to the child’s health. They have no right to benefits as they own their own home and have a mortgage, which was all ok, until their son was born with health conditions meaning mum cannot go back to work. The long-term plan is that the mother-in-law will look after the children, and then the mum will be able to go back to work, however as the mother-in-law lives overseas, they are currently saving up to pay for her fare to get to the UK. Due to them trying to save any spare money for the plane ticket they are really struggling with the cost of food. Friends have been helping but this isn’t sus...

This week our friends at Shasbah (Sheffield Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus) asked if we could work with them to help one of their members. She is having to move house and is without support to do this. She is physically disabled and having been provided with a skip by the housing association, is unable to fill it. She needs to pay for a specialist removal company who are equipped to handle waste management, which will cost £700. Shasbah are helping her with one of their discretionary grants of £300 and came to us to see if we could help with the shortfall. They told us what a difficult time she has had at her home over the past few years and how they all hope the move will be the chance for a 'fresh start' for her. We were very pleased to be able to send £400 so the move can go ahead with the appropriate removal support, and wish the Shasbah member all the best in her new home.