Barclay’s give St. Luke’a telephone helpline £100,000 boost
The Barclays 100×100 UK COVID-19 Community Relief Programme has given £100,000 to St Luke’s Hospice to aid patients and families in Sheffield by extending a vital telephone helpline throughout the pandemic.
For St Luke’s, that means being able to extend the hours of operation for the patient helpline that has become a vital means of practical support for both patients and families throughout Sheffield during the many stages of lockdown.
“We are quite simply overwhelmed by the generous level of support that Barclays has shown,” said St Luke’s head of fundraising Joasia Lesniak.
“At any time, a donation of £100,000 would be beyond all expectations but as we continue to work on through the pandemic and strive to maintain vital levels of service for all the people of Sheffield, the impact of this donation simply cannot be underestimated.
Matthew Chenery, Barclays Relationship Director, said: “By reaching those most in need of support, local charities such as St Luke’s Hospice have played a vital role in this crisis to date, and no doubt they will do going forward.”
The Curve selected as Tickets for Good’s DevOps delivery partner
Tickets for Good, a Sheffield company that focuses on combining social life with social good, has appointed The Curve to help scale its digital capacity in preparation for the return of venue-based events.
The move will allow the firm to prepare for an influx of customers as the events industry bounces back following the pandemic, and forms part of the company’s new digital growth strategy.
Tickets for Good works to make events more charitable and inclusive by providing free event tickets to charities and social groups through The Ticket Bank to improve the mental health and wellbeing of individuals who could not otherwise access these events.
CEO and founder Steve Rimmer said: “We have appointed The Curve to help us with this journey and with their expertise we hope to achieve our mission to support the ever-increasing number of organisations and communities in need across society.”
Charity’s figures highlight frontline role during pandemic
A Sheffield charity says it has sent its 900th piece of ‘happy post’, as it catalogues the thousands of interactions it has made to keep older people safe during the pandemic.
The pen pal letters are on top of almost 950 pieces of equipment fitted, 140 bits of furniture moved and 182 key safes installed – themselves part of 1626 referrals Sheffield Churches Council for Community Care (SCCCC) has completed since January.
The charity says it’s also recruited and trained 55 new volunteers to cope with a surging demand for its support, including helping more than 180 people return home after a spell in hospital.
Mark Storey, CEO at SCCCC, said: “2020 was a year like no other, but these figures tell the story of how our brilliant volunteers and small team of staff have stepped up in a big way to deliver a vital service to more than 200 isolated, older people in our communities.”
Key services the charity provides include help for older people being discharged from hospital, and its renowned ‘Good Neighbour Scheme’ which seeks to tackle loneliness in people over 65 years old.