Adviceline 0808 812 7156 Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm

20 Jun Citizens Advice Launches Appeal to Help More People in Cornwall and IoS as Economic Crisis Worsens

Posted at 13:48h in General News by

“You are all heroes to us, the downtrodden and cast aside” (Citizens Advice client)

Citizens Advice Cornwall is appealing for public support to help more people across the county as demand for its service soars.

The charity has launched a Regular Giving Campaign where potential donors can sign up for as little as £1 a month to help expand its work.

Chief Executive, Gill Pipkin, said:

“As a charity facing huge demand on our services at present, our resources are extremely stretched.  We want to help more people and can only do this with more funds. 

“We are asking our community to support us with whatever can be spared so that those most in need can get help.  Every pound donated allows us to train and support advisers to be there and by giving to us regularly, we can plan and maintain our services more effectively.”

Last year, Citizens Advice Cornwall helped more than 9,000 people with almost 40,000 issues, helped write-off debt worth a total of over £1 million and gain income worth more than £8.1 million.

Community Fundraising Manager, Tamsin Chapman-Gunner, said:

“We’re only able to provide this service with the support of the public and grant giving organisations, whose donations enable us to continue our work.

“As a Cornish charity, we rely heavily on people’s generosity. This campaign will help us to grow our services further.”

Citizens Advice Cornwall provides free, independent and confidential advice on a wide range of subjects for everyone in the community, including benefits, debt, housing, relationship issues, employment and redundancy, consumer, legal issues and more.

It costs Citizens Advice Cornwall around £1.5m to run the service each year, a figure that is set to rise as the need for help increases.

Members of the public can help support the charity by making a financial donation – no matter how big or small, or helping with fundraising.

  • £10 could buy a headset for an advisor
  • £25 could pay for an hour’s advice appointment
  • £50 could help fund a one-to-one training session on managing bills
  • £150 could pay for our phone system for a month
  • £600 could pay for a laptop for one of our team
  • £1,000 could pay for our text service for a year
  • £3,000 could pay for full training for a specialist advisor.

To find out more about fundraising please email tamsin@citizensadvicecornwall.org.uk

Anyone wishing to support the charity with a regular donation can visit the website at https://citizensadvicecornwall.org.uk/support-us/ and download a sign-up form or via Just Giving at  https://justgiving.com/campaign/regulargiving.

You can also sign-up by text. Just text GIVER followed by your donation amount to 70580 to give that amount, for example GIVER5 to donate £5 – Texts will cost the donation amount plus one standard network rate message, and you’ll be opting in to hearing more from us. If you would like to donate but don’t wish to hear more from us, please text GIVERNOINFO instead.

CASE STUDY

Your donation could help people like Donna, who said:

“Your service has been a lifeline to me throughout this process. The work carried out by Emily on my witness statement was considerable; the advice given about how to complete documents and advice on content was invaluable.  The lengths you have gone to help me acquire a barrister, however slim the chance, are immeasurable to me. 

“The whole process has effectively brought me to my knees – there has been hurdle after hurdle to overcome and it is incessant. The fact that your service is available to people like me, who would otherwise be entirely on their own, is absolutely a lifeline. 

“I wouldn’t have got this far, without your advice and services. I am utterly grateful for the part you and your team have played in the attempt to keep my children safe.  You are all heroes to us, the downtrodden and cast aside.”

(Name changed to protect identity)

Ends.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS PRESS RELEASE AND FUNDRAISING PLEASE CONTACT TAMSIN CHAPMAN- GUNNER tamsin@citizensadvicecornwall.org.uk

FOR ANY OTHER MEDIA RELATED QUERIES PLEASE CONTACT WAILIM WONG ON 07711-786688 (MEDIA ONLY) OR wailim.wong@citizensadvicecornwall.org.uk

 The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing information and advice, and by influencing policymakers.