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Laura Melanie Eccles received a grant of £200 for travel expenses for hospital visits and returning Laura to school.
Laura’s mother Vanessa is a dedicated mum who works extremely hard to keep her family together. Her husband Michael suffered spinal injuries which resulted in mental disorders, making him unable to contribute financially or practically within the family. Laura who is 16, attends residential college at Mickleover, Derbyshire where a place was provided by the Learning Education Authority. Laura has cerebral palsy, bone growth failure and has a spinal growth on her diaphragm, but cannot be considered for an operation as her body could not withstand the trauma. As part of the Learning Education Authority rules Laura must return home every other weekend and the yearly travel expenses cost in excess of £2000. She also attends Great Ormond Street and the Nuffield Hospital on a regular basis for which the family must also find travel expenses.
Vanessa also has a son called Michael who suffers from Grand Mal epilepsy and has a chronic weight problem due to prescribed drugs. He was always a straight A student until he began to have seizures, he recently lost a scholarship for Theatre studies, has dropped out of college and is now addicted to illegal drugs. Vanessa first applied to County Durham Foundation for help in 1999 via her local Scope group. She works as a Manager in a care home bringing home the only income the family receives. Vanessa is determined to continue to work but the family are not entitled to benefits because of the size of her income.
County Durham Foundation has been supporting Vanessa and her family with grants since 1999. Previous grants were for £500 in 1999, £500 in 2000, £250 in 2001 and £200 in 2002. All of this funding was to ensure Laura could travel to school and medical appointments. The family also received £3000 from another of our Donor Advised Funds (the EBAC Fund) to pay for a new adapted bathroom to enable Laura to shower independently, the constant lifting having caused severe back pain for Vanessa.
Zoe Woodcock received a grant of £780 to help with
her cost of living expenses at dance school.
Zoe Woodcock is 17 and was referred to County Durham Foundation by Darlington Multiple Sclerosis Society. At the age of 4, Zoe’s mum Jackie was diagnosed with MS. Her condition has steadily deteriorated and she has used a wheelchair for some years.
Like many children whose family is affected by long term illness, Zoe has always helped with the housework and her mother's personal care, even continuing to do so when she is home from college. Mrs Woodcock is unable to work because of her illness, and Zoe's father was made redundant in 2003 from a small company where he worked as an electrician. He has not been able to find more than short-term work since. He is also his wife's main carer.
Zoe has had a passion for dance from a young age and started ballet training at the age of six (her mother was a keen dancer in her youth). She gained a Distinction last year in her Grade 7 Royal Academy Ballet exam and has also received a Distinction in her latest college exams at the Park School of Dance, Preston, where she started a 3-year Dance BTEC National Diploma in August 2003, which will enable her to perform and teach. The MS Society in Darlington had applied to numerous national funds on Zoë’s behalf but had only obtained £200 before approaching County Durham Foundation. The school is Government-funded so all tuition fees are paid for, and they have arranged a rent rebate for Zoe on her accommodation during term time.
The grant was given to help with maintenance (i.e. food, travel, ballet shoes and costumes), workshops that had to be paid for, travelling back from home to see her mother and general living costs. Zoe’s referee from the MS Society emphasised that a few hundred pounds would go a long way towards these costs. The family were so desperate that they were thinking of selling their house to help Zoe stay at the school, the course not being eligible for a student loan as it is not classed as higher education. She has joined a local dance company in the hope that she can raise a little money this way, and she will work during her holidays.
Receiving this grant has relieved some of the stress for the family as they now don’t have to consider selling their home to raise funds. Zoe can now spend more time concentrating on her studies in dance and may not need to work as much during her holidays.
Michelle Raistrick received a grant of £500 to provide
nursery care for her daughter Bethany for 2 days a week.
This application came as a referral from another voluntary sector organisation.
Michelle is 19 and a single parent to her daughter, Bethany who is 3. Bethany
has been identified by Social Services as a child in need, which means that
in order for her to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health and/or
development the input of local authority services are required. She is watched
over by the Children in Need Act via Social Services and has a Social Worker.
Michelle also has a support worker allocated to her as she was brought up
in the care of the local authority and is now trying to live independently.
Michelle’s support worker has helped her to sort out her finances as
best as possible as well as helping with other issues surrounding her leaving
care package. Michelle works full-time as a packer in a factory, she is paid
the national minimum wage and receives family tax credit, but has no family
support and Bethany's father has no involvement with her.
Before receiving the grant from the Wright Funk Fund, Michelle's tax credit paid to keep Bethany in nursery two days a week and Social Services paid for a further day. Michelle paid her neighbour to look after Bethany the remaining two days, which cut into her money for household bills and was not an ideal situation for Bethany. She had additional problems as she had council tax arrears for which she had received a fine that she needed to pay.
Michelle is trying to move on and live independently while creating a stable family environment for her daughter. She felt that while she was having to pay for a neighbour to look after Bethany, she was finding it hard to manage her household bills while paying back her council tax arrears. More importantly, the increased anxiety was also causing distress to herself and Bethany. She could have chosen to leave work and live off state benefits, falling in the benefit trap, but she wanted to work in order to provide the best possible life for herself and her daughter.
Michelle felt that being able to secure a grant to enable her to have Bethany in nursery for five days each week would give her the help she needed to finally sort out her finances. The Wright Funk Fund grant was paid directly to the nursery and Michelle no longer had the burden of worrying about care for her daughter while she was working. Apart from this, the money she saved from not having to pay the neighbour enabled Michelle to pay off her council tax arrears early.
Maria Cossins was awarded £100 towards household goods and clothes for her family of four who lost their belongings in an uninsured house fire.
Maria Cossins is 47 and the main carer for her three grandchildren; Andrew aged 4; Chantelle aged 3 and Colette aged 2. Their mother tragically died of a blood clot on the brain in October 2001 when the youngest was just two months old. Maria’s husband died three weeks before this, and as a consequence of this double loss she suffered a breakdown which resulted in the children being taken into care. They were returned to her care in May 2003 but Maria had a house fire shortly afterwards and unfortunately the house was not insured.
Before Maria received the grant, the family home had already been cleaned by the family; volunteers had fixed the roof, Social Services had paid for new windows and carpets had been donated. The family are now back in their home thanks to this support. Mrs Cossins explained that the oldest child is starting school in September and the uniform is expensive, the children also lost their toys in the fire, including Chantelle's birthday presents as she had just had her birthday Their grant from the Wright Funk Fund enabled the family to purchase household goods and clothes to replace those lost in the fire.
Emma Ward received a grant of £500 towards a computer to help her complete her HNC and A-levels.
Emma is 20 years old and was placed in the care of the Local Authority from 1981 to 1999. She has no contact with her own parents due to their serious mental health and disability issues. Emma is a single mum who works 3 days a week and also attends college one full day and one evening per week. She needed a computer at home to help her study for her HNC Care Practice course. Having the computer at home would allow her to complete her essays and assignments without spending large amounts of her time away from her son and the family home. She could have used the facilities provided by the college but she felt quite strongly that this would have been depriving her son of the little spare time she was spending with him. Emma’s main goal is to qualify as a social worker and make a better life for herself and her son.
Emma also received a grant of £500 from another fund with County Durham
Foundation, the Stanhope Castle School Charitable Trust for the remaining
costs of the PC. Less than 1% of the people raised in care go on to higher
education, Emma is one of the few.
Laura Robinson received a grant of £100 to help pay
for a trip to Disneyland.
Laura is 9 years old and suffers from Leigh's Syndrome which has caused partial blindness. Unfortunately the condition is progressively debilitating and life limiting; over the past 2 years Laura has become fully wheelchair bound and has no self help skills. She is now unable to stand or fully feed herself. Laura really wanted to visit Disneyland in Florida while she was still able. Her mother, who also cares for a younger brother aged 3, had already raised £2,200 before approaching County Durham Foundation, the total cost of the trip was to be £3,900.
The following comment has been received from Laura Robinson’s mother:
'I would like to thank you for your help in Laura fulfilling her dream to meet Mickey Mouse at Disney World it was absolutely fantastic. It would not have been possible without the help of the Wright Funk Fund'.
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