UPDATE ON 2nd NOVEMBER, 2022
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[The charity 500 Suffolk Reasons is highly recommended. Two of the organisers are known personally by the Committees of Snape Good Neighbour Scheme (as hosts of Meet Up Mondays) and Snape Village Hall (hosts of our Coffee Mornings). Ann Osborn is Chief Executive of Suffolk's Rural Coffee Caravan, who frequently visits both sessions offering us financial, home safety, travel and welfare advice. Sally Connick was instrumental in establishing our Good Neighbours in 2019, and then offered ongoing support until her recent promotion. The letter below has just arrived from them. Please consider supporting them.]
You can click on the page above to download the whole double-sided flyer.
For technical reasons, the links below won't work from this webpage
(though some will do so from the downloaded PDF-file itself),
and so the links are repeated after page 2 below.
e: 500suffolkreasons@gmail.com
w: www.500suffolkreasons.org
f: https://www.facebook.com/500SuffolkReasons/ @500SuffolkReasons
I: https://www.instagram.com/500suffolkreasons/
T: https://twitter.com/500Suffolk @500Suffolk
Hello Everyone,
I hope this finds you all well. Welcome to all new members. We are very glad to have you and thank you so much for joining us.
I am going to keep this update fairly generic as I would really like you to share it far and wide with the attached flyer, so I can't give too much detail for the sake of confidentiality, but if anyone would like to know more then I will do my best to answer.
1. A very brave parent with desperate hoarding problems, took the huge step to start decluttering. She is supported by an agency, but determined to do it herself. Complicated backstory but, believe me, this is worthy of much respect. We helped her finish the job by paying for a large skip and a few things for the children. I also gave her a slow cooker, and some fleece blankets from our Rural Coffee Caravan appeal.
2. A family caring for elderly member who lives with dementia. Many struggles as anyone knows if they have been in this position. The issues around this have led to them needing to replace the flooring with something hygienic and easy to clean. Our donation added to funds raised by their advocate, enabled this to happen.
3. Person needing oxygen, and therefore limited mobility, has a very overgrown garden. It was cleared, but the cuttings were not removed, so it all grew back, became unmanageable and vermin infested. Struggling already with the Cost of Living crisis, there was no money to sort this out. Referred by support agency, we donated to get the garden cleared properly, so that owner and dog can get outside.
4. Very sad lonely older person cannot access public transport because of breathing difficulties, and can't find the mental strength to cook, so wants to visit lunch clubs for company as well as the meal. However, at present the cost of community transport is too great as there is no package of support. This has been applied for, but in the meantime we have given a donation that will pay for transport to a couple of different places each week. This will hopefully lead to a wider social circle and diminish loneliness.
5. Survivor of domestic abuse with three children. Rehoused, but with very little to make a home. We worked with Communities Together East Anglia on this. They have provided a TV, and we have paid for the necessary subscriptions for the children to be able to watch TV.
6. Ukrainian family. Mum is a recent widow, also grieving father recently killed in the war. Money very tight. We are working with Our Special Friends, who are helping with vet bills, We have given a donation to help this, and contribute to food costs for the family as they were obviously struggling to cope on next to nothing.
7. Adult and adult child with complex needs who literally have nothing! No furniture, no white goods, no working bath. Very complicated heartbreaking story. Now under th e care of social services, but in need of so much. Our donation is for household items.
8. We have bought 25 thermal sleeping bags to give out to homeless people. If these prove effective and we can afford it, we will buy more.
Nominations have increased and our major concern is turning people away. We desperately need more members so we can generate more available funds. Please share this email and the attached flyer. I don’t think I have put anything in it that identifies beneficiaries so it’s safe to share.
We still haven’t reached the halfway mark with membership, but so many of you are donating over and above — and that is how we have been able to make all these donations.
We have raised over £15,000 since we started and helped over 30 households. Quite something on £1 a week, don’t you think? But we can and must do more, so anything you can do to help this group grow will be much appreciated.
In the meantime, a heartfelt thank you from us to you.
Warmest wishes, Ann, Andy, Sally, Jo and Sue
♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎
"The Rural Coffee Caravan started up in 2003 to tackle rural isolation and promote community spirit [and] since then it has spread its wings across the whole of the County and continued to grow. [It] has helped many people gain access to the benefits, services and information they need".
[They've visited Snape several times recently, at our Coffee Morning and Meet up Mondays. On a personal basis, the team have instituted a crowd-sourcing scheme to offer grants to people and families in crisis around the County. A heartfelt plea arrived from them today … ]
UPDATE ON 2nd MARCH, 2022
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This month saw us receiving five nominations! — more than we can meet until our membership grows. Thankfully, two of the panel have access to hardship funds via their day jobs, until the end of this month, so we have in fact been able to assist each one. However if this rate of nomination continues, and there is every reason to think it will, we need more members pledging their £1 a week.
This time we have helped three single-parents, each in dire straights through no fault of their own and each, in fact, soldiering on valiantly and not seeking or expecting help; a young woman who needs to be able to lift herself out of her current situation in order to thrive; and a person threatened with eviction, living on next to nothing and desperately looking for somewhere that can also allow their very elderly and much loved dog. In each case we have been able to meet a particular need that nothing else could and, every bit as importantly, we have made them feel that they haven't been forgotten and that people do care.
We are SO proud of this group! It's slowly growing, but to meet demand it needs to pick up the pace a bit. I know we all have Ukraine uppermost in our minds, and that is how it should be, but maybe at just £1 a week, we can do both?
Ann Osborn
Rural Coffee Caravan
POSTED ON 14th OCTOBER, 2021
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FROM OCTOBER'S "RURAL COFFEE CARAVAN AND NETWORKS NEWSLETTER"
["The Rural Coffee Caravan started up in 2003 to tackle rural isolation and promote community spirit — the brainchild of the Rev Canon Sally Fogden [who] was manning a helpline in Suffolk for the Farm Crisis Network (a national charity). … The caravan started out visiting rural communities in Mid Suffolk during the summer months, [and] since then it has spread its wings across the whole of the County and continued to grow. … The information provided by the Coffee Caravan has helped many people gain access to the benefits, services and information they need."
The Caravan has recently visited Snape — both our Coffee Morning and Meet up Mondays. On a personal basis, the team have instituted a crowd-sourcing scheme to offer grants to people and families in crisis around the County, and sent out the following invitation through their Newsletter to join them in this initiative.
The following is for your information and personal decision.
It is not necessarily a recommendation.]
Dear Friend,
A group of us are setting up a private fundraising group to give out up to £500 weekly to desperate and deserving people in Suffolk who need a little help that cannot be met any other way.
It is really easy to take part and we hope you are able to join us. In our various roles within Suffolk, it is clear there have always been hidden needs and hardships, and the pandemic has exposed further inequalities and significant difficulties. Everyone who donates is entitled to make a nomination.
The original idea for this was from actor Joe Sims with his group https://www.500reasons.org/. As his group reached 500 participants, more groups have followed. They are easy to find on social media if you are interested, and tend to be private groups rather than charities.
We are aiming for 500 participants in this Suffolk fund, each donating £1.00 per week by standing order. That will enable us to give out up to £500 per week to someone who is struggling. Having 500 members will enable us to reach more people. The group will focus on Suffolk residents. We will let you know when we have sufficient funds to accept the first nominee. In general, monies will be granted to individuals. Nominations cannot have a religious or political bias. As Joe Sims says, "Working collaboratively and supportively to do some good each week is much easier if we avoid anything potentially divisive".
Once you have signed up, we will invite you to a closed Facebook group, set up to keep members informed of donations and of any feedback. Members that aren’t on Facebook will receive the write up in an email, so everyone is kept informed.
If you are interested in joining this group, details of what to do are below.
1) Please set up a STANDING ORDER/REGULAR PAYMENT (not a direct debit) of £1.00 (more if you wish, although we will never ask you to increase your weekly donation) every Monday payable to —
500 SUFFOLK REASONS Sort code 52-30-31 Account no 49891979
2) Please e-mail the group at 500suffolkreasons@gmail.com with "FAO ANN" as the subject, to let them know you have set this up. This will also be the email address for nominations.
If you have a friend who might be interested, please feel free to forward this information.
Grateful thanks from us all,
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/500SuffolkReasons/
email: 500suffolkreasons@gmail.com
[You can download the invitation letter above by clicking here.]
Sign up to 500 Suffolk Reasons and donate £1.00 a week to create a pot of kindness for a household struggling to cope. At the moment these awards can only be made once a month, but as the membership grows so will the number of beneficiaries.
Visit 500suffolkreasons.org for more information.