500 together

  We are pleased to be back this week with news of donation 180. One of our members told us about S.  Originally from Pakistan this single mum of a 5 year old has had an incredibly difficult time over the past few years.  Dreadful circumstances meant she found herself alone in the UK with her young son and has faced - and like so many others like her - continues to face every day challenges to navigate through the complex benefits system, appropriate schooling for her son, balancing work/childcare, etc, without any real support network.  It is tough for her and she has shown amazing resilience and is working so hard to create a stable life for herself and her son. Our member told us how the carpets in her council house are horribly thin, with no underlay and each winter she notices how cold they are when she visits and sits on the floor to play with the little boy.  The boy is prone to asthma attacks and was hospitalised twice last winter....

We are pleased to be back with news of donation 179, which has gone to help establish a community garden project in the Jordanthorpe and Batemoor area - The Grove@146. The organiser of the project has kindly written about how they are using our £500 donation : The funding provided has enabled us to purchase the timber and supplies needed to begin the building of several large planters which will form the majority of the gardening space. With the help of volunteers the planters are coming together and we cannot wait to get them in place so that we can work on the layout and function of the space. After the purchase of the timber, we have a little under a half of the funding left, which will be used towards soil/compost and plants. The space we have use of is entirely concrete, which means we have to be creative when it comes to how to utilise the space for growing! However, it also means that there is so much potential to bring beauty to the grey, and we can’t wait to see it progress – ...

We are back this week with news of another donation we made over the summer when our member involved with the incredible local charity Family Voice asked if we could help.   They told us about a first time mum who had escaped domestic abuse and was claiming asylum as she had nowhere safe to go. She was heavily pregnant at the time, with no contacts, no friends and a very humble personality. Just as she was making connections at Family Voice her accommodation was moved out of Sheffield.   However - your £500 enabled her to buy things she needed for the baby and herself during the first few months after the birth, and it provided a little bit of comfort and security during a really difficult time.  As always we were pleased to help - especially when the situation changed and she had to relocate at such a critical time.  It seemed like our support would be more important than ever and are so grateful for the work the team at Famil...

We are pleased to be back with news of our latest donation and this week we can tell you about donation 177.  At the end of August, one of our members sent us an urgent request to help a local family get away on a short break with their incredible 5 year old daughter C.  We know all our donations make a big difference, but this one is particularly moving and one we were so pleased we could help with. C is on palliative care. In this short life she has endured 53 operations.   C’s parents are around the clock carers. She has a little brother who is 2 and quite active. C’s mum explained that with her daughter’s health deteriorating each month they want to snatch hold of every opportunity to spend as a whole family. It’s coming up to C’s 6th birthday and they never thought they would make it this far. The family love visiting the seaside, C especially. Their favourite place is Primrose Valley - a holiday park in Filey and they had a last minute opportunity to ...

This week we can tell you about donation 176 which has helped a mum and her kids who have fled from domestic abuse. When our member contacted us, they explained she had left her family home and she and her kids were sleeping on the floor of a friend’s one bedroom flat.    She is being supported to find housing, but negotiating for these services is sadly becoming increasingly hard.  There is so little provision. Where they are currently living is so far away from schools the kids attend, so they are having to get buses    - which mum is struggling to pay for. They cannot apply for bus passes until they get temporary housing - and even then there will be a waiting time and no guarantee of success.    Our member had calculated that a month of bus travel to school for the kids would be around £350 and asked if we might be able to help. This lady has clearly taken such a brave step to leave her home and now faces such an uncertain time with her kids as the...

  This week we have sent £500 to T, a mum with 4 children under 14yrs,     2 of whom have additional needs and all of whom have been through a lot of trauma.  T was hospitalised by her abusive ex and in a coma for 6 weeks.  He is now in prison but T and the children have had to start again from scratch.      Their situation is very difficult and they have fallen into debt trying to keep up with bills.  Her nominator has seen the letters threatening bailiffs and the removal of things like the family tv etc .   It is just so difficult for families to cope financially in situations like this and we are pleased to have been able to support our member who made this nomination to help T clear her debts and hopefully find a way to move forward.  We wish her and her family all the best.

  Our friends at SHASBAH  (Sheffield Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus - a Sheffield charity which helps people affected by spina bifida and/or hydrocephalus) asked if we could help one of their members J who needed to travel to London to access a specialist standing scan machine for a heart condition. This is at a personal cost to her of £633 as it is not offered in Sheffield.  Our member explained the financial pressure paying for this would have on J and we were pleased to be able to step in to help with £500 towards the costs involved. J has sent this lovely message: ‘I would like to thank you very much for the grant you’ve so kindly provided for me for my heart monitor, it means so much to me and is very much appreciated that you would do this for me as it will help with my ongoing heart problems and hopefully help me get the correct treatment from my doctor.’ As always thank you for your continued support of 500 together.  We do feel we are se...