How we have helped

Janet was a working single parent who began suffering from seizures and had her driving licence revoked. Living in a very rural area with no public transport available, she had no choice but to use taxis to get her daughter to school and herself to work. The cost pushed her into debt and put her job — and her daughter’s school attendance — at serious risk.

A grant from the fund covered Janet’s transport costs while she applied for an Access to Work grant. With that support in place, she was able to keep her job and her daughter was able to continue attending school.

After losing his job during the first lockdown, James borrowed some tools and started experimenting. He discovered he could make garden furniture that friends wanted to buy, which inspired him to set up his own small business.

A grant from the fund helped James purchase the tools he needed to get started. He is now doing something he loves and is fully self-supporting.

Ann is one of the many women the fund has helped who have suffered domestic abuse. Having fled to safety with her children, taking only what they could carry, the family were given emergency refuge accommodation consisting of a single room while longer-term housing was arranged.

When permanent accommodation was found, the fund provided a fridge freezer, cooker and washing machine so that Ann and her children could begin to make a home where they could live without fear.

Steve and Jo’s son John was born with severe brain damage and a very rare form of epilepsy, causing constant seizures and painful muscle spasms. Warm baths helped relieve the pain of these spasms, but with the bathroom upstairs, John eventually grew too big and heavy to be carried to it.

The local council refused to help, instead suggesting John be taken to a local care home to use their ground floor facilities. The fund purchased a portable shower and changing trolley, enabling John to be bathed downstairs until the family’s home can be properly modified.

Jamie worked in his home town but was placed in temporary accommodation over ten miles away after his private landlord ended the tenancy to sell the property. The family were allocated a home by the local authority, but could not move in for a month while renovations were carried out.

Jamie had no transport and, with the costs of moving, no money left for train fares to get to work. The fund purchased a one-month season ticket, enabling Jamie to continue working throughout the month away from his home town.