A helping hand

Morning all,

This week marks 500 Reasons 7th birthday!!!

That means we’ve now given away over £183,000 to individuals and groups nominated by your brilliant selves! We have made a difference in the lives of hundreds of people, giving them a moment of relief when times are hard. And not only have we given that little bit of financial help where needed -we’ve heard from so many recipients that they have been incredible touched by knowing 500 strangers wanted to help them.

A huge thank you to you all for your continued support and for your wonderful nominations. Keep them coming. We can’t do this without you!

And this week we share a birthday with a young boy whose family has been nominated. Sarah’s son turned 8 this week. He has complex needs and they rely on disability living allowance to support him. The regular requirement to reapply and a complicated application system means they are temporarily without that support.

When this nomination came in from first time nominator Ffion, we all agreed immediately we should help. We hope our gift provides a tiny bit of breathing space at this tricky time - and we wish her son a very happy birthday!!

Jen, Charlotte, Joe and Ray xx

Hi everyone,

I've not nominated before but when my friend was telling me about a difficult situation she's in I remembered the fantastic work that 500 Reasons does and that I've been a part of for a long time, now. I would love to be able to offer a helping hand.

My friend Sarah is a counsellor and carer for her two children. One of her children has complex disability needs and the family rely on a disability living allowance (DLA). The DLA has to be resubmitted at various points during a claimants life and it's a long, emotional process. It takes my friend, Sarah, months to get all of the paperwork and evidence together, as well as testimonials and reassessing of her son's needs - which are becoming more complex each year of his life.

This month, through no fault of their own, the DLA application has to be submitted within the next 2 weeks and the family had nowhere near enough prior warning to get the application together. Because of the mess-up of timings it has meant that the family will have a gap of 20 weeks before they receive their allowance.

Sarah is an incredible human being and an incredible mum to her two sons but she just doesn't have the money or savings to patch up that gap before the next DLA payment. I would love to be able to offer her the £500, no questions asked, from 500 reasons. I think this would give the family some room to breathe but also some much needed restored hope in humanity.

Many thanks for all of the tireless work that you do at 500 Reasons. I'm so proud to be a part of it.

Ffion Jones