We are asking #TeamSuffolk to help us spread the word, not only to people that need our support but also, vitally, to increase the number of people that give so generously to this wonderful appeal…
During the first month of this year’s appeal, over 350 applications have already been received and 300 homes heated. Equally important is that it has already been identified that 221 households may be able to receive other help with improvements to their heating and insulation, energy tariffs, debt advice, access to other benefits and support with issues of loneliness and isolation.
This is a truly tremendous start from our colleagues at Citizens Advice. But, we have 4 months of winter and potentially much harsher conditions still to come, so it’s vital that Suffolk people keep giving as generously as they have so far.
With the festive season upon us, Suffolk is bracing itself for a dramatic increase in need. Last year our annual Surviving Winter Appeal raised enough money to heat over 1,000 homes and connected many hundreds of people to other services to help tackle isolation, address physical and mental health challenges, improve poor living conditions, solve debt problems and assist with access to services to help them stay safe and well.
This year, we are expecting more people to need our help than ever before, so we are merging the Surviving Winter Appeal with the central Rebuilding Local Lives initiative that we have been running since the start of the pandemic. We hope that this action will deliver a much louder and easily understood central message to increase local giving and ensure that every vulnerable person in our ‘Caring County’ is supported to ‘Stay Warm, Stay Well and Stay Connected’.
