500 together

  We know Christmas is such a difficult time for so many and we are pleased that with donation 146, we have been able to help a family who are having a really tough time.  Our member told us about a lovely mum she supports who has children ranging from 20-3 years old.  She’s doing an absolutely fantastic job and her kids are testament to that but at the moment she’s struggling.  She was rehoused 12 months ago, as a priority, due to domestic violence and has been really lucky to have got a four bedroomed council property.  Space wise it is great, the problem is the windows are in such a poor state.   When it rains, which it never seems to stop, water pours in underneath the frames in the living room, kitchen and two of the bedrooms.  The window frames themselves are very poorly fitted which causes massive draughts but on top of that most of the windows have large cracks and holes in that the wind just blows through.   As a result of ...

This is a donation of £500 for garden clearance and safety cameras for a food bank client who was recently rehoused with her 2 children. The youngest child is autistic and needs care as he has no regard for safety. The house they have been allocated is great, and she has proudly made the house a home over the last 6 months being very careful with her money and saving up for things even though she has extremely limited income.  However when she moved in, the garden was in a terrible state.  She has had to pay for rubbish removal but she is worried about the children hurting themselves on things she hasn't uncovered yet - there were old bikes and bits of metal everywhere. The food bank are supporting her in applying to the Council for an application for fencing as the garden isn't secure and she has to keep the doors locked and the keys hidden otherwise her son lets himself out and runs to the park, as he has no regard for road safety and she is scared he will get hurt. She has ...

This week we have made a festive donation of £500 to the Sheffield Shoebox Appeal. This incredible project is organised by a small team, who work closely with local charities and service providers to provide a bit of Christmas cheer for the homeless, people in hostels, temporary accommodation and safe refuges, and the socially isolated elderly.  They begin in September, asking people to put together shoe boxes full of treats  and luxury items, including hats, gloves, socks, toiletries, chocolates and small games/puzzles.  A lot of schools and community groups support them and in October they open up drop off points to collect the donations together. This year the appeal celebrated its 10th anniversary, but as the deadline for receiving boxes from the public approached, they found they were short of over 100 boxes and were particularly low on boxes suitable for men.   For many of these people, this will be the only Christmas present they get.   When we ...

  This week we can tell you about donation 143, which has been made to the charity Sheffield Churches Council for Community Care (SCCCC) to help them with the fantastic work they do supporting older isolated people in Sheffield.  This week we can tell you about donation 143, which has been made to the charity Sheffield Churches Council for Community Care (SCCCC) to help them with the fantastic work they do supporting older isolated people in Sheffield.  SCCCC currently has around 165 volunteers matched with older people but has a waiting list of over 200 people waiting to be matched. They keep in touch with them with regular phone support and also send them post via a penpal scheme whilst they recruit and train more volunteers to help meet the demand - but it is hard for them knowing there are so many lonely people waiting to get access to a befriender.  SCCCC are taking part in the The Big Give funding campaign,...

  Meadowhead Christian Fellowship in Jordanthorpe hosts a number of activities for the local community including the Edge advice session and Drop in every Thursday morning. (Edge Advice centre Jordanthorpe | Sheffield - Facebook  https://m.facebook. com/people/Edge-Advice-centre- Jordanthorpe/100082577201472/ )   Edge is open to all and the advisors offer advice on benefits, housing, debt and assist with a wide variety of form filling. There is also an open to all Drop in where people can just come for coffee and biscuits, a chat and find a warm, safe place. One of our members asked if we might be able to help fund a winter initiative which would allow the Edge to offer people homemade soup with a roll/ baguette and fruit as a healthy, appetising addition.  We were very pleased to support this idea, and are delighted to hear that now it is up and running, the organisers are seeing new people come along, as well as the regulars, as word about the delicious soup s...

  Our £500 donation this week has been given to a mum whose husband has left her and her 3 children. One of the children has recently been diagnosed with a speech and language disorder and has been offered NHS specialist one to one support. Mother and child have to cross the city three times a week for 6 months to attend these specialist sessions. She is not used to public transport and started in taxis, which very quickly became unaffordable. Then she worked out the route and learnt that she could get 2 buses there and back - but even the cost of this was having a big impact on her finances. She is being supported by one of our members who nominated her, asking if we might be able to help fund her bus fares for the next 6 months, which were costing £75 a month. We were pleased to be able to help . She also uses buses the rest of the week as well for job training and classes so this donation is really having a big impact. Our member sends huge thanks to 500 Together for supportin...

One of our members asked if we could help K with a £500 donation. K has recently split up from her partner and she was financially dependent on him. She had no means to cover her household payments when he left. She applied for Universal Credit, but as she waited for this to be approved she was unable to make her rental payments. Unfortunately her landlord was unwilling to work with her on a repayment plan and demanded immediate payment, threatening eviction if this payment was not made. It was becoming an increasingly stressful situation and one that was understandably making K quite ill with worry. Our member explained to us that if she could just pay off the £550 being demanded by the landlord, then going forward K would be in a position to get back on track financially, with Universal Credit covering future rents. K sends a massive thanks to you all for helping her sort this problem out - such a huge weight lifted - because of your kind donations.