Milestone for fund as people dig deep

The South Yorkshire Flood Disaster Relief Fund reached the major milestone yesterday with organisers saying they are both stunned and delighted that there are now more daily donations that when it first happened.

So far 515,296 has been collected in just 37 days and the vast majority of the cash has come from ordinary people desperate to help.

South Yorkshire Community Foundation set up the fund with the four local authorities and chief executive Pauline Grice has been touched by ordinary people's generosity.

The largest donation was for 25,000 but envelopes containing 5 from hard-up pensioners and even 2 from a little boy's pocket money have really tugged heartstrings.

Now Pauline says it is vital people keep up their support and the plight of the 5,000 families still facing immediate hardship and suffering in Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield is kept in the public eye.

She said: "We are absolutely chuffed to bits. It is a phenomenal amount of money but bearing in mind the number of properties affected it won't go a long way so we really need to keep it up.

"We haven't had many large donations but we are astounded by the generosity of people because we have had an overwhelming response from individuals and that is still growing.

"People can see that the area is struggling and they just want to give something back however small - every penny counts."

For details of how to donate and how to get an application form for financial help visit www.justgiving.com/southyorkshirefloodrelief or call 01709 868000.