The new Sheffield charity making a big difference to people's lives with donations of just £1 per week

If so, a new charity from Sheffield which helps city folk in need want to hear from you.

500 Together is a fundraising group which aims to connect 500 generous people who are willing to donate regularly to help people in their community.

Each week, anyone from the group can nominate an individual, family or organisation to be the beneficiary of up to £500, with the aim to support everyday causes or offer a helping hand to someone who needs it.

The charity is the brainchild of Sue Greenwood, Vicki Peacock and Nichola Vasey, who set it up just over a year ago and have so far donated to 24 different causes.

They got the idea from a similar Manchester-based organisation and thought the Steel City needed one of its own.

Each member of the group can nominate good causes before the final decisions are taken when enough money has been donated.

Sue, who in her day job is a social researcher and civil servant, said £1 a week was a tiny amount of money for one person, but when pooled together could make a big difference to people’s lives.

“We are all very lucky to have security and enough to live on, but we know that some people’s lives are not so great,” she said.

“The whole team do it entirely voluntarily and every penny goes to someone who needs it, so you know exactly where your money had gone and what it has been used for.

“And sometimes it is not only the offer of money that makes a difference to the people we help but the knowledge there is someone in their community that is rooting for them.”

500 Together currently have 174 members, but in time hope to get 500 so they can donate to a different individual, family or good cause every week.

They have donated to 24 different people or charities so far, with the latest donation of £500 going to a young Barnsley boy called Theo who needed a new wheelchair.

They have also donated £300 to Always An Alternative, a non-profit organisation that aims to reduce youth violence in Sheffield, £350 for a new cooker and fridge for an unwell man who had just lost his job and £150 for a woman who had lost her husband in a motorbike accident.

“One of the unique things about us is that we are member-led so people get a sense of making a tangible difference to someone else’s life,” added Sue.

“It is not going to solve all the world’s problems but it might help someone out of a sticky situation that any one of us could be in someday.”

Anyone who wants to donate should set up a standing order for £1 a week, paid every Monday to sort code 51-61-35 and account number 82714371.

Givers should use their full name as the transaction reference and also email the 500 Together team on [email protected] to tell them you have joined.

To find out more about 500 Together, visit https://500together.co.uk or find them on Instragram at @sheffield500together.

Case study - Theo’s new wheelchair

500 Together donated £500 towards buying a new wheelchair for nine-year-old Theo.

Theo was born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. At just nine weeks old he was fitted with a VP (ventriculoperitoneal) shunt - a treatment that drains extra fluid from the brain to help prevent the pressure from getting too high.

He is partially paralysed from his waist to his knees and totally paralysed from his knees down but in spite of his difficulties is a very outgoing boy who enjoys life to the full.

He got his first wheelchair from the NHS when he was three years old but this was constantly breaking down to the extent that in the first six months he actually only had access to the chair for two weeks as it needed to be repaired so often.

Theo’s family and friends fundraised for 14 months for a better wheelchair but he has sadly now outgrown it and they are now raising money for another one which will take him into his teenage years.

However, as Theo is due to have bladder surgery in April and needs his new chair for the operation’s 12 week recovery period, 500 Together wanted to make the family’s fundraising challenge a bit easier by donating £500 towards this vital piece of equipment.

Case study - Always an Alternative

500 Together also donated £300 to Anthony Olaseinde and his anti-youth violence group, Always an Alternative.

Anthony wanted to do something about the worrying increase in knife crime in the city so set up education group Keep Sheffield Stainless three years ago.

There, a team of volunteers work to create a safe place for those affected by knife crime, to reduce the number of knives on the streets and to reduce the amount of serious injuries and deaths caused by them.

They also offer educational workshops aimed at individuals who are deemed ‘high risk’ and have set up knife and weapon collection and disposal service in and around Sheffield.

Anthony put 500 Together’s donation towards purchasing more portable knife amnesty bins to place strategically around the city.

These bins provide young people with a safe option for disposing of weapons anonymously. Each weapon disposed of in these bins is one that cannot be used by someone else and potentially a life saved.

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