News

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Who we've helped

Anne & Jim

 

Anne is currently recovering from a brain tumour and Jim has terminal cancer. They asked us to support them with a grant that would allow them to buy some clothes and bedding as they were struggling to be able to keep up with washing due to their ill health. They told us:

 

"Thank you to your organisation for the grant. This will make such a difference to both of us and allow some small luxuries that my husband would otherwise have to do without"

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Who we've helped

Jane | Age 22

Jane has 2 young children and her washing machine broke down and she was unable to afford to fix it or buy a new one. This was creating a very stressful situation for her and she came to forthgiving for help. We provided her with a washing machine and her referee told us:

 

"Jane was extremely grateful for the washing machine as she had no spare money to spend on a new one and with 2 young out going children this was becoming an issue. Having a washing machine has helped the family from having to spend hours hand washing them and saving mum from having to take out a loan/finance which she can not afford"

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Who we've helped

Joanne | Age 30

 

Joanne and her young family recently moved in to a tenancy after a period of homelessness and temporary accomodation. She has 3 young children and the house didn't have any carpets in several areas. This left the house feeling cold and damp and the smaller children were getting their feet caught between the bare floor boards. forthgiving helped by carpeting the areas with no carpet and her Family Support Worker told us:

 

"Joanne was recently awarded a grant from forthgiving to cover the cost of carpeting her hall, stairs and landing. The family recently moved in to a tenancy after being made homeless and living in temporary accomodation for several months. This experience was detrimental to the well-being of the whole family. forthgiving's grant has really helped the family to make their new home their own and has contributed greatly to the parents ability to make her children feel safe, valued and nurtured. Without this support it is likely that the family would have started a cycle of debt"

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Who we’ve helped

Cathy | Age: 46  | Single Mum

Cathy’s abusive partner has gone leaving her to look after their children and try to get on with her life. She wants to stay in her flat, but there’s two broken doors, a hole in the wall and a shattered bathroom mirror; the frightening aftermath of a violent outburst by her ex-partner. Her landlord says she needs to pay for these damages, even though her abuser is to blame for them. What can she do? Her Universal Credit and child allowance barely cover the cost of food, heating and rent, let alone clothes for the children. Failure to pay will lead to eviction and homelessness. Social Services couldn’t help but referred her to Forthgiving.

Forthgiving was able to respond to this situation by paying directly for the repairs to be carried out – something most support organisations are unable to do.

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Who we’ve helped

Jack | Age : 28 | Severe Cerebral Palsy

Jack is severely disabled and lives with his parents who are his carers. His condition was such that he could only eat in a standing position but needed a  specialist standing frame support to enable to do that. Despite raising some of the money needed from family and though a crowd funding appeal, they were unable to reach the target of £2,485. They approached forthgiving who were able to bridge the gap in funding.

"We can't thank you enough for your support and we enclose photos of Jack using his new frame" . Jack's parents

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Who we’ve helped

Falkirk District Association for Mental Health

FDAMH had organised a "No Men Nevis" fundraising campaign involving 250 women volunteers with personal experience of mental health issues. However , they had no funds to pay for coaches to take the paricipants to and from Fort William. Fortunately, forthgiving were able to step in and fund the shortfall which enabled the venture to go ahead, raising an amzing £67,000 to support those suffering from mental health issues.

 

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Who we’ve helped

Tom | Age: 17  | Epileptic & associated learning disabilities

Tom received special support at school . It had been discovered that he might benefit hugely from 1:1 art classes suited to disabled students but the school didn't have the funding or resources to provide it. They approached forthgiving who funded  the fees and materials for a series of art classes at Delta Studios in Larbert.  

During and after the course, Tom's specialist support teacher at school noted major reduction in in his behavioural problems at school.

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Who we've helped

Helen | Age: 28 | 

Helen was a single person living in a women's refuge after fleeing an abusive relationship. After several months she had the opportunity to rent a one bedroom flat. But, as the flat had very little furniture and no white goods  and with no savings to fall back on, it was beyond her means. However, thanks to financial support from forthgiving, she was able to purchase a new washing machine, a fridge freezer and an electric cooker , all of which gave her the confidence to start a new life for herself.

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Who we've helped

Paul | Age 55

 

We supported Paul with some bedroom furniture as he was unable to afford to buy any furniture for his bedroom and found that this was impacting his mental health. He told us:

 

"It has done me well. There is a stress lifted from my shoulders. I thank you so much for giving me bedroom furniture to put my clothes away. They no longer lie in a heap on the floor"

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Fatou

Fatou | Age 16

 

The charity that referred Fatou to forthgiving told us that she had experienced the worst case of child abuse they had ever been involved with. She was physically, mentally, emotionally and sexually abused and was looking for support to pay for her biometric residence permit which would allow her to get a job and support herself. forthgiving gave this grant to Fatou and she told us:

 

“ The support from forthgiving allowed me to get my UK biometric residence card to take up a new job here and cut all the chains free. Now I'm happy in a relationship. If you guys didn't help me I would still be stuck. Thank you forthgiving! ”

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Vanda | Age 38

 

Vanda suffers from Schizophrenia and having recently being discharged from hospital was waiting for universal credit and living without any income or ways to provide for her children. It was approaching Christmas and the thought of not being to celebrate with her children as she would have hoped was impacting her mental health. She asked forthgiving for help and we provided her with a grant.

 

“Thank you to forthgiving - with their help I had the best Christmas and for the first time I was able to buy my son a present. You guys helped me when all doors were closed. I will always be grateful.”  

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The impact of Covid-19 has been devastating to so many people including Neal who had lost his income and was unable to provide beds for his young daughters when they came to stay with him. He turned to forthgiving for help and we provided him with a grant. This was what we told us:

 

"Myself and my daughters are really thankful for the generosity of the charity, forthgiving. They had so much fun when Dad was building the beds, perhaps Daddy is not best at joinery but they were suitably excited all the same. I have recently been getting a few shifts with work this week and last, after 14 weeks with nothing coming in, and I fully intend to, in turn and in time, help someone else.  My girls, 9 and 8 years old, have been asking for a while when they could get bunk beds so you have made two wee girls really happy. I think we can now go out at the weekend and complete the room with purchase of another mattress and covers, pillows etc."