Bury Rotary has been awarded two grants of £850 each from the Bury Council Community Funds. The awards are to help The Club to continue providing aid to individuals and families living through critical life situations. The grants were awarded following two public events attended by 200-300 people where over 30 applicants from various charities had to 'Pitch' in competition with each for the public vote. A number of other charities were also successful.

The Family Crisis Fund operated by Bury Rotary Club was established in December 2015 following a request from a social worker through our website to provide a bed for a 6 year old child. Now working alongside the welfare services, we provide support for local families in temporary difficulty by providing essential household furniture and appliances. We purchase clean, products through eBay, charity shops or Ikea and provide them free of charge to families living through difficult and stressful situations.

For example imagine you're seriously ill and are unable to provide bedding for your children. What do you do? - In a number of cases, The Bury Rotary Family Crisis Fund stepped in and provided clean beds and bedding.

Imagine you and your children have been evicted. The Council has found you new accommodation but you have no furniture and you're living with all of your belongings in black bin liners. Again, on many occasions, Rotary helped by providing wardrobes and chests of drawers.

Imagine you're a mother who has fled a violent relationship with very few possessions. The Council has found you safe accommodation but you need to feed your children and keep them clean. The provision of a fridge and washing machine helped to restore some normality to life.
Or, imagine you're a mother of 9 children and your fridge freezer breaks down 3 weeks before Christmas. What do you do? - In this case, through our contacts, Rotary supplied a replacement fridge freezer at short notice.

There are of course many more cases.

With The Family Crisis Fund, The Club tries to deliver the essential items to make life just a bit more tolerable during times of crisis. Children and young people in these situations are particularly susceptible to depression or anger issues, occasionally developing disruptive or anti-social behaviour. Sometimes just a little help is all families need to keep them together and out of the criminal justice system, or the long term health and welfare systems.

The referrals which are described are all outside the benefit system and are all real situations - and they keep coming. In the last 18 months, Bury Rotary Club has provided major household items to more than 35 families in Bury
We would all like to think that in the case of misfortune, sickness or bereavement, somebody would be there to offer help through desperate times. The Family Crisis Fund will continue to help families in Bury through the worst times of their lives.