Sight for Surrey Receives Grant from Walton Charity
There has been much criticism over the lack of support for disabled charities during the COVID 19 pandemic. Many charities claim that essential services for those with physical disabilities have been hit especially hard, having missed out on any government emergency funding so far.
Sight for Surrey is therefore delighted to receive a COVID-19 Community Grant from Walton Charity of £3,000. The grant will enable Sight for Surrey to support the 728 vulnerable Elmbridge clients living with sensory impairment.
Sight for Surrey offers a lifetime of support to people who are blind or partially sighted, Deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing. We assist people to overcome their day-to-day challenges, achieve their potential and lead independent lives.
The strategies and techniques we teach will enable the sensory impaired to manage their daily tasks independently, empowering them to learn tasks like crossing roads, using public transport, cooking food, managing household tasks and personal care, hearing in a different way and learning British Sign Language.
During the crisis, like many organisations, we have adapted our services by providing an essential shopping service, arranging volunteer befriending for 80 clients, making more than 2000 calls to our most vulnerable users, posting 3 British Sign Language posts a week with updates on Government guidelines and providing ‘zoom’ cafes to help the Deaf community cope with isolation. We have also been able to secure funding to be able to offer counselling to some of our families with children who have sensory needs, which we highlighted as an urgent need early on.
Lisa Fletcher, Head of Fundraising, Sight for Surrey, said, “As all of our fundraising events and talks were sadly cancelled, we had to quickly look at other income streams to help us continue supporting all the people in Surrey with a sensory loss, especially the deafblind. The Walton-on-Thames COVID-19 Fund has been of great support to us at this difficult time”.
To find out more about Walton Charity COVID-19 Small Community Grants visit: www.waltoncharity.org.uk/grants-community
