The Fund does not offer a long-term solution to the problems, it simply offe
rs an opportunity for individuals who enjoy working and/or who live comfortably to support individuals and families who are considerably less fortunate. There are lots of positive things happening today - so much for most of us to look forward to. For some people, however, just getting through each day is as much as they can think about. The Fund reaches out to these people, The Fund helps provide for some very basic human needs - things that most of us take for granted - bedding, clothing, heating, cookers and fridges. When you don’t have these things, and even worse when you can’t provide them for your children, it is almost impossible to share in today’s new-found optimism.
Aims and Objectives of The Fund
Formed in 1993 under the Chairmanship of the Advisory Group, Canon Nicholas Frayling, who in 2003 became the Dean of Chichester the Fund has the specific task of making grants to relieve individual and family cases of poverty and hardship. Since its formation, it has distributed over £300,000 in small grants to nearly 6500 people.
Applications for grants are made on behalf of individuals and families by professional social workers, health visitors and their equivalent. The People for People Advisory Group review the applications and approve the grants to be made to the individuals and families.
The policy is that grants for the relief of individual cases of poverty and hardship are made only where government does not feel it has a responsibility and all other sources of funding have been exhausted.
The current Chairman of the Advisory Group is His Grace Archbishop Patrick Kelly.
Detailed reports on the distribution made by the People for People in Merseyside Funds are available on request.
The following is the forward by Archbishop Kelly for the April 2002–March 2003 booklet:
Several years ago I was privileged to become involved in the unique service offered by a hospice for families whose children have a short life expectancy:
Francis House, Didsbury, Manchester.
One small, apparently insignificant story stands out for me among the many challenges to which we were introduced.
It was the day a family came when the last straw was this:
the washing line broke in the garden and all the hard work was spoilt. With haste children, parents and washing were rushed to Francis House.
The broken line was the infamous final straw that broke the back of patience, peace, courage to go on.
United Trusts often are dealing not with the dramatic, but with those ever so small final straws that tip a family over from endurance to despair, from managing one more day, to becoming overwhelmed:
a fridge, a cooker, a washer.
It is wonderful to be associated with what United Trusts stands for.
Join us in dealing with some of those final straws.
Archbishop Patrick Kelly
Chairman of People for People Fund Advisory Group
(a sub fund of United Trusts)
By supporting The People for People Fund you can help provide some relief, some hope and you would be making a strong, practical demonstration that our Community’s most vulnerable members are not being forgotten and that we are all working towards creating a better Community for everyone.