500 together

This week, with our 108th donation,     we have made a difference to a local family with a 2 year old son. The little boy was born with a cleft lip and palate and has undergone 3 surgeries and is now well and ready to learn to talk.  He is also excited to be starting out at nursery. Our member told us that he didn’t have his own bed and had been sharing a bed with his mum and dad - they were all  sleeping on their one mattress on the floor.   Whilst local charities had double beds available, they were struggling to find anything suitable for a child and so our member asked if we could help. We were delighted to buy a small bed and some bedding at a cost of  £257.   One of the many great things about 500 together is the speed with which we can action a request like this.  Once our admin team had unanimously agreed to support this nomination, we could get the money across and the bed was delivered the next day, and that...

  And so to our first donation of 2023, which has gone to the incredible community organisation   Family Voice , who work for and with families around the Sharrow, Lowfield and Nether Edge area. They told us about the  many families struggling to pay their bills and asking for help and wondered if we might be able to provide supermarket vouchers which will help some of these families to use their money to pay their bills.  We wanted our donation to reach as many families as possible, so we used some of our extra funds and gave Family Voice £1000 to allow them to help 15 families with the extraordinary cost of living challenges they are facing. Our member from Family Voice has sent us this message, explaining the impact of our support - which extends far beyond just the shopping vouchers. Thank you so much for the cost of living funds you have donated to families at Family Voice.  When we are able to help a mum in this way it means so much. It relieves stress. It...

  One of our members sent us a nomination telling us about a 68-year-old asylum seeker who was moved to Sheffield from another UK city by Migrant Help following eviction, and needed some help. This lovely lady, who we will call Deborah, came into the country with family in 2013 hoping for a better life following a lifetime of abuse in her native country. However, since being in the UK she has encountered many challenges including family breakdown which resulted in her having to find alternate accommodation in a country she knew little about with no other means of support.  She went on to find work for herself as she was keen to contribute, although sadly went on to be exploited by her employer which left her unable to pay her rent. Prior to eviction, Deborah was living in what she described as a safe and secure community where she had forged friendships and regularly attended local groups. She received support from a mental health charity and was engaging with Local ...

  Here we are on Christmas Eve with donation   105   - which is a special one of £1000. We recently received an amazing additional contribution from a very long standing member, Pam. She held an event selling her late husband's bespoke collection of books and she and her amazing friends raised a whopping £600.  Pam told us in the spirit of her husband's campaigning work throughout his life, she wanted the money to go on to help our recipients at 500 together.  We were just so touched that she and her son chose 500 together to benefit from this collection.  And thank you again to those of you who joined us after attending the event! We have a nomination from a community worker connected to a housing estate in Sheffield who says there are lots of families she supports who are struggling with the cost of living and keeping gas and electric bills under control. She asked if we could help in a slightly different way and pay 5 families £200 to help them...

  For donation 104 we managed to make another donation to a cause nominated by one of our members within the Big Give scheme, meaning our £250 will have been matched. We have supported the charity Sheffield Churches Council for Community Care (SCCCC) to help their important and vital work supporting older isolated people in Sheffield. SCCCC’s befriending project aims to help tackle loneliness and isolation amongst one of the most vulnerable groups in society. Their target group are older people in Sheffield – those aged 65+, however many are in their 80’s and 90’s. So many older people they work with may not speak to anyone else if it wasn't for their volunteers.  Many are unable to get out of their own homes through poor health and /or poor mobility as well as the many other factors that cause loneliness and isolation such as the death of their partner and friends or no longer being the centre of their family. SCCCC currently has around 140 volunteers matched with older ...

News of donation 103, which sees us supporting Saffron - Sheffield Women’s Counselling and Therapy Service - who offer a much needed free counselling and psychotherapy service to women in Sheffield who have experienced trauma or abuse.   https://www.saffronsheffield.org.uk/ One of our members asked if we could support their ‘ All She Wants for Christmas is…’  campaign and we have donated £250 through the Big Give scheme, which means our donation gets matched, taking it to £500. For over 30 years, Saffron Sheffield has provided specialised trauma therapy for many of Sheffield’s most vulnerable women.   It is estimated that in Sheffield there are over 34,000 women survivors of abuse. Trauma and abuse can take many forms and can happen to women of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities. As a specialist mental health charity, they provide 1:1 weekly therapy sessions and well-being support to local women negatively impacted by trauma. This can include sexual abuse, domestic abu...

We are pleased to be able to share news of donation number 102 and send a big thank you to the member who nominated   Penistone Food Buddies . Penistone Food Buddies is a food bank that has recently been set up in the area to help people struggling with the cost of living and the challenge so many families face to put food on the table.  The organisers, Julie and Mark, were hugely involved in ‘United for Ukraine’, sending donated goods to those affected by the war in Ukraine, but once that came to a natural end, they saw a need to help local people and have set up Penistone Food Buddies. The focus is on providing basic food to get individuals and families through the weekend, for example cereal, rice, tinned meat and/or veg, and sachets of sauce and/or spices. Our £500 has helped them buy provisions to get them off the ground and up and running. They sent us this message:  “On behalf of Penistone Food Buddies we would like to thank you for your donation of £500. This...