What happens when you give a **** ?

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Little things.  Big things.  Beautiful things.  Everday things.  Profound things.  Heartfelt things.  Important things.

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This group is about gently showing other people that we see them and what they are going through ...and that they matter.  It is about showing solidarity in the ways that we can, in a world that is too often unequal, unfair and unkind.  It is a simple showing of kindness.  

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Each week we will review nominations which are submitted by those of you who give a quid each week. One person/cause is chosen per week (very occasionally more than one), and we give them the money... simples!

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We will post details of how the money was used each week...on the facebook page... sometimes anonymised, sometimes not, depending on the nominee’s preference.  This is because we have found from our involvement in 500 acts of kindness that the lovely folks that give a **** get as much out of knowing what difference their quid has made as the recipient of the funds.

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So how have your donations helped so far?

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Anne

Its hard to imagine that amidst everything that is going on right now we still have to be worried about cyber fraud and scams...but sadly we do.  We are very happy to  have helped Anne, who after becoming a victim of a cyber crime  attack that wiped out her bank account, felt violated...and of course worried about how much of a struggle the weeks ahead would be for her and her family..  Thanks to your support 500 give a **** were able to contribute £350 towards Anne's losses to help cover during this really difficult time.

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Anne was relieved and incredibly grateful for the help and has now set up her standingorder for £1 a week to 500 give a **** and is encouraging her family and friends to sign up too.

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Josif

Josif left Romania to work in the UK in 2017.  He is a very proud man and worked for 2 years before his contract came to an end in May 2019 and as a result he became homeless.  He was on the streets for 3 months until a group of volunteers from the Salvation Army found him and helped him to find accommodation.  In this time he was living off Universal Credit but that stopped in December 2019 when Britain left the EU.  He now lives off £15 a week from a housing support charity...along with a weekly food parcel.  

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He recently signed up to a new employment agency but he's been unable to find a full time job.  Josif said 'The problem is that I don't have much food to live off and I can't afford a travel pass to get to interviews and jobs - a weekly bus pass is about £25 a week'.  Josif lives alone and he doesn't have any credit on his mobile phone so he is unable to keep in touch with his family and friends.  He also doesn't have a TV.

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It's not hard to imagine how this would affect him in the best of times...never mind amidst a lock down.

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With your help we have donated £400 to Josif to help with food, phone credit and travel.  We wish him every bit of luck getting back on his feet.

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Although 500 give a **** is generally about supporting individuals through a tricky time in their life we have chosen to support 2 groups local to Huddersfield who are helping a bunch of individuals through the trickiest of times right now. 

 

DASH

 

At present most of the asylum seekers and refugees that they support are in temporary accommodation with no access to phones, tv's or the internet. At the moment most of us know how hard it is not being physically connected to our friends and loved ones...no hugs, no peck on the cheek, no handshake....but our sense of isolation is eased because we at least have the connection to the outside world that technology provides.  Imagine how difficult it would be to cope if you didn’t have that.  DASH want to buy some basic radios so that the people they support can listen to the news and understand the COVID world we are living in, but also to listen to music and maybe even a station transmitted in their own language to make this all a little less scary and isolating.  As Christine, who nominated them, says ‘I am nominating DASH because they always go the extra mile for their clients.’  A donation of £400 will help DASH bulk buy some radios...which means they will be able to buy more and reach more people. 

 

If you want to know more about DASH you can find information here http://huddsdash.org and we wish all their lovely people the very best.

 

                                  

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The Basement Recovery Project

 

We all know that COVID 19 does not affect everyone equally and this is another example of how it is affecting some of the most vulnerable individuals in our communities.   TBRP are a community based recovery service, specialising in the treatment of substance misuse and relapse prevention.  Normally TBRP run a day care centre that provides a number of recovery activities and provides a place where service users can connect with their peers, cultivate new purpose in their life and aim to change behaviours.   Covid-19 has scuppered this and it is having detrimental effects on individuals, particularly when they are unable to afford the cost of technology and data packages that would enable them to access the online support that TBRP are providing. 

Many of their service users have no other forms of support or family connections and as the founder and CEO Michelle Foster stated, ‘during the Covid19 situation many of the service users have become isolated and continually withdrawn.’

 

A donation of £400 will contribute to the purchase of phones, tablets and data that they desperately need to maintain the relationships they have started to build since accessing the service. 

 

You can find out more about The Basement Project here https://thebasementproject.org.uk/ and we hope this creates a little more ease for people at a very difficult time. 

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Thanks to all of your kind donations we have been able to make a difference.  Please join our group by donation so we can give even more of a ****.

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