500 together

  This weekend we can tell you about our 94th donation, which has gone to a local family, whose plight was brought to our attention by one of our lovely members who volunteers at a food bank. She told us that whilst this family was attending their community grocery store someone smashed her back car windscreen. The police attended, but nobody saw anything and nothing was taken so it would just be put down as malicious vandalism.  It is horrific to imagine that whilst they were visiting a food bank, the family - a working single mum and her 2 kids -  suddenly found themselves with their much needed car out of action and absolutely no money available to fix it.  At the time the police advised the nature of the incident might mean they weren’t covered by their insurance, adding to their worries. We obviously were keen to help, and thankfully by the time we spoke to the lady, her insurance had agreed she ‘just’ had to pay the excess.  But as she ...

This week we can tell you about donation 93.  One of our members asked if we might be able to help out her friend and colleague, who confided that she had recently fled domestic abuse with her 3 year old daughter and pet dog.  For her safety, we want to maintain her anonymity, so we will call her H.   H initially moved into a relative’s home, but had found a privately rented, furnished accommodation to resettle in. However, as her ex-partner had always had control of finances she had no money herself, beyond wages from a part time job, which were going towards rent, childcare and food. With her ex partner denying access to any of their household items, she was moving into her new home with very little, and financially unable to purchase anything to help her and her young daughter settle in.   We spoke to H, and it was clear what an impact us sending her £500 would have, as she could go out that day to buy household goods - and in particular new blinds ...

With donation 92 we have helped another woman, known as S, who is starting out in new accommodation after a period spent in the women’s refuge. S is in receipt of Universal Credit, but has no savings and moved into her new flat with nothing but a few belongings. To make her empty property more comfortable she really needed to get some carpets and we were pleased to be able to help with £500 towards them. The new carpets have made such a difference to her new home. We wish her well as she settles into her new safe space.

This weekend, we are pleased to be able to share news of our 91st donation, which has allowed us to offer help and support to an incredible lady we will refer to as R to protect her identity. We were contacted by Jenny, a member who works as a volunteer in Sheffield with Care4Calais - https://care4calais.org Care4Calais offers crucial support to asylum seekers in the UK, France and Belgium. When asylum seekers arrive in Sheffield they are first housed in hostels and hotels before being moved to shared housing in different parts of the UK. Among many other tasks, Care4Calais volunteers work hard to provide clothing and essential items for asylum seekers who arrive with nothing. Jenny first met R - a delightful young female Iranian asylum seeker - in June this year. R had fled Iran and arrived in the UK on the back of a lorry in December 2021 with just the clothes she stood up in and is now living in a shared house in Sheffield. Jenny & R communicate in Farsi via the Google T...

Incredibly this donation is our 90th since we made our first one back in November 2019 - we have also now given away a total of £35,000. It really is wonderful how you all come together to give such support to various nominations sent in by you, our members. A huge thank you! Our latest donation of £500 goes to Lilies Clothes Bank. Despite the hot weather we've been experiencing, the Clothes Bank are getting organised for the cold weather ahead with their "Warm for Winter" project, in which they aim to bring together around 100 packs of hats, neck warmers, fingerless mittens, socks and throws for individuals and families to help combat the increased fuel prices this autumn/winter. Volunteers from a local knitting group are also supporting the project by knitting some of the items and some of our donation has funded the wool they will need, as well as buying blankets to add to the packs. They will also draw on Clothes Bank donations of good quality cold weather ...

This week's donation (number 89) goes to a mum (F) and her young children who are starting a life in a new home, having spent time in a women’s refuge, following their escape from an abusive situation. F was able to get funds to pay the first week of rent to secure the tenancy, but their circumstances mean she is not entitled to any furniture grant. The house they have moved into needed new carpets, and F also had to source furniture and beds for her children, She has some money saved, but not much, and certainly not enough for all these expenditures, so we were only too happy to send her £500 to put towards the costs. F told us: “£500 really helped us as I was worried how we would afford to carpet our house as we came into the refuge with just our clothes on back and a few toys and not much money so it has really helped to take the pressure off thank you so much”. She has been kind enough to send some photos of the difference the carpets have made. Another brilliant...

This week we can share news of donation 88, which has seen us sending £500 to a local family who are struggling to make ends meet and pay everyday bills. The family comprises three adult siblings living with their Aunt (their mother sadly passed away a few years ago and their Father has never been in the picture) . Two of the siblings are cleaners at a local primary school, but one of them was diagnosed with bowel cancer, at only 27 years old and has been unable to work. The third sibling stepped in to cover some of his work, however they are waiting for extra benefits to cover costs and in the meantime, even though the school has done everything they can to help with bus fares and travel costs, the bills were mounting up. 500 Together was very happy to step in and ease the pressure and help tide them over until more money comes in. We have received a lovely thank you from them, which encapsulates the good your donations do for so many of our recipients. Just want to thank you ...