500 together

Donation   126   of £500 goes to a local foodbank client whose Mum (a British Citizen) has been stuck in another country since before the pandemic.   Mum went away to visit family, became very seriously ill and couldn't travel home, then Covid hit and she couldn't travel home, then her passport ran out and she couldn't travel home.   Her daughter has serious health issues of her own and is sending a significant amount of her own benefits to her Mum to buy the medication she needs abroad.  The Foodbank has helped her apply for a passport for her Mum. The final hurdle was the cost of  a plane ticket for her to come back to Sheffield, which is where  500 together  has been able to help. We wish the family all the best and hope they can enjoy being back and settled together here in Sheffield.

D onation 125 -  A big thanks to our member who works for the charity Shelter, who support people experiencing problems with housing and homelessness for this nomination .   They asked if we could send a donation for them to help a family who have had to be rehoused by the council following a house fire.   Since the fire, the single mum and her 3 children aged 2, 6 and 7,  spent the first week  moving between  various hotels/temporary accommodation but have now been allocated a property by the council.  The council have furnished the property to some extent via a furnished package but there are some items missing and work needs doing to make the garden safe and secure for the children. Some of their belongings that haven’t been damaged by the fire/smoke/water ie, white goods/sofa could be brought from the old property but they needed to fund removals for this.  Carpets and curtains were also missing.  We have sent £500 towards the removal cos...

Donation no. 124 of £500 goes to fund some Under 12s Sheffield school girls football kit. Sheffield has a well established system of ‘Sheffield School boys’ teams at all ages, where the most talented boys are selected to play from schools right across Sheffield and enter tournaments against other cities.  However, there is very little for Sheffield school girl footballers, something that James Varns wanted to do something about, so he set up an U12 girls team, organised funding for equipment and sorted out training facilities but needed a little more help to get all the football kit for the girls team, something we were only too pleased to help with.  Girls and women’s football has been set back and underfunded for decades and the recent success of the Lionesses has ignited a passion for football amongst thousands of girls, but they also need the teams, leagues and pathways to be able to play and compete at all the levels that boys have over the years. The U12s girls team has ...

  Our latest donation of £133 is a little different from some we have made in the past, but one we think will have a really beneficial impact locally. We were approached by one of our members who works for Darnall Well Being - a local charity we have supported in the past when they have told us about individuals they work with, who we have been able to help. Darnall Well Being (DWB) provides health & wellbeing services in one of the most deprived areas of Sheffield – the Darnall Ward. Their core remit is to address health inequalities. They work with local people to help them achieve their goals and build resilience by focusing on what matters to them.   https:// darnallwellbeing.org.uk/home/ about/ At the start of Covid, they introduced a 16 page colour newsletter, the Community Connector , which was published 3 times a year, and was delivered to every household in Darnall ward (8,300 households). They originally started this with Covid funding, because they were ver...

  We are pleased to be able to share news of donation 122. This time your £500 has gone to help a family who have just settled in Sheffield. They have come from Pakistan with nothing. There is mum, dad and three children (8, 6 and 1 years old). Dad is suffering from poor mental health. The council have housed them but have supplied very little in the house for them. They currently have 1 double bed, one single bed, a settee and a TV.   The local community worker (who nominated them) has supplied them with crockery, a slow cooker, clothing, shoes, toys and some bedding,  but they were in need of some types of flooring (carpets/ rugs/ lino), so via the community worker, 500 together has provided them with £500 to help with flooring.  We wish them all the best.

  We are pleased to be back with news of donation 121 which has allowed us to help the wonderful Ben’s Centre in Sheffield -   https://www.benscentre.org Ben’s Centre is a Sheffield charity based in the city centre, that has been supporting homeless and vulnerable people for over 20 years, particularly those with alcohol and substance misuse issues. The centre provides a welcoming place, hot food and drinks as well as free access to clothing, toiletries and washing facilities.     People who use Ben’s centre often struggle with their mental health as well as addiction and the day centre is a safe place, where people can hang out, have a conversation, relax, watch their favourite show on TV, go online, play a game, do various activities, as well as get the support they need through the centre or referrals to other organisations.  The clients can also have a shower and have their clothes washed and get access to toiletries and clean clothes.  There ...

This week we are pleased to send £500 to help W, a single parent from Poland, who has found herself with some awful financial problems through a complication with her housing benefit.. W works as a cashier in Sheffield and like so many has been affected massively by the cost of living crisis. 5 years ago, W informed Universal Credit about changes in her work - details she expected to be passed on to the council and the housing benefit team. However, a couple of months ago the council informed her that following a case review they discovered they had been overpaying her housing benefit for these 5 years and she owed over £4000. This came as a complete shock to W, who is obviously not in a position to pay this back.    She has become ill with the stress and is currently on a very long waiting list for some mental health support through IAPT.     She is receiving support to discuss manageable repayment plans with the council, but is understandably very overwhelmed ...