UPDATE: Can you help us reach our target?

March 2023: We will now be focusing the remainder of our crowdfunder on raising money to allow local voluntary and community organisations to provide emergency essentials to their communities, via the form of £500 unrestricted grants to organisations.

Stockport's communities need support now more than ever as more people are forced into poverty via the Cost of Living Crisis.

Can you help your neighbours, friends and family in Stockport by donating to our emergency appeal?

The money will fund vital support services a to help ease the pressure of what is, for many, an inescapable situation.

There were 15,665 households in Stockport that were in fuel poverty in 2021, before the energy price rises. This number will explode as winter draws closer. This appeal will help support emergency food provision and more via a grants programme to local charities and community groups.

We're already hearing truly arresting stories of people struggling including more and more children turning up to school with empty lunchboxes.

Our communities, many for the first time in their life, are having to make difficult decisions as the crisis takes hold.

Where will your money go?

The money raised will be readily available to Stockport's voluntary, community groups and charities to fund activity and services that support vulnerable people through the Cost of Living crisis. This money will be spent on a rolling basis to meet need and demand.

Local support services do so much for our communities. The Stockport Saving Summer project, which you may have seen on BBC Morning Live over the summer, helped Stockport residents save £5,524 on their energy bills through advice and mediation services.

Our voluntary and community sector have the experience, skills and passion to help, but they need your support to do so.

What your money could go towards:

Activities and services could include funding emergency food parcels, putting on events in warm spaces and offering advice on bills to vulnerable people. There is so much our community organisations can do.

For example:

£5 could pay for a food parcel for a family struggling with food insecurity

£15 could fund an Energy Bills Advice session for vulnerable people to get support in speaking to Energy companies to lower their bills

£25 could go towards funding a warm space and a hot meal for those who are having to choose between heating and eating

£50 could fund the cost of a Warm Pack for older people

£150 (the cost of your Council Tax / part of your Energy Rebate) could go to a warm space to help them keep the heating on and continue to be a place of sanctuary for their communities

UK taxpayers can add Gift Aid to a donation which enables us to claim an additional 25% from the government.

Two years ago, when the first first lockdown hit, we launched a fundraiser to support community organisations in delivering emergency response services. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of people in Stockport, we raised over £45,000.

Let's go one step further this time and see if we can double our efforts to reach £80,000!

To find out more about what we do, including partnerships with the third sector in Stockport, sign up to our mailing list here .

Donations Received

Thank you to IPL Global for their generous donation of £500 for warm packs

Thank you to Stockport Council for their generous donation of £60,000. The Councils Household Support Fund is donating to the Stockport Food Network to purchase food to support households in need over the winter period. The council will then arrange for £10K grant to Sector3 for use by the food network and will make £50k worth of direct grant payments to other organisations.