Frome-based cancer counselling charity We Hear You (WHY) has secured a £5,000 grant to fund its online counselling service. The service supports adults in Somerset, Bath and Wiltshire who are affected or bereaved by cancer or other life-threatening conditions.
The donation was provided by the Santander Foundation, which offers Discovery Grants to UK registered charities for projects that help disadvantaged people in local communities.
The charity, then called Positive Action on Cancer, was founded in 1994 as a telephone helpline for women with breast cancer. It now offers free professional counselling to people affected by any form of cancer and a range of other life-threatening conditions.
The grant will be used to fund the charity’s online counselling service, which enables people who are unable to attend sessions at WHY’s counselling locations to access support via a video link. The online counselling service uses a video platform similar to Skype or FaceTime so people in need of help can have a similar face-to-face experience to the charity’s other clients, without the need to travel.
Melissa Hillier, Director at We Hear You, said: “We’re constantly reviewing our services to ensure all are able to access them. The online counselling service has been a great success since its launch. It’s fantastic to have that work recognised by this grant from the Santander Foundation, which will allow us to expand the service and reach more people in our communities who need our help.”
Laura Gerrish, Branch Director at Santander’s Trowbridge branch, said: “The Santander Foundation makes hundreds of donations to local projects every year with the aim of assisting organisations, communities and vulnerable people throughout the UK. The staff at our branch know the great work We Hear You does in our community and we hope this grant will help them in their support for local people.”
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Notes to Editors:
Media Contact
Leonora Burtenshaw at Santander
Email: Leonora.burtenshaw@santander.co.uk Tel: 020 7756 4543
Lucy McMahon, Communications Assistant at We Hear You
Email: lucy.mcmahon@wehearyou.org.uk Tel: 01373 455255
About We Hear You
We Hear You works across Bath & North East Somerset, Somerset and Wiltshire and in 2016 offered over 4000 counselling sessions from ten locations, supporting more than 370 people. The charity receives no government funding and relies on donations and support from the communities it works in.
For more information please visit www.wehearyou.org.uk
Santander Foundation
The Santander Foundation is at the heart of the Bank’s community activities, providing grants to small charities and social enterprises working with disadvantaged people to fund skills, knowledge and innovation projects across the UK. Discovery Grants of up to £5,000 are available to support three types of activity:
- Explorer: improving people's knowledge
- Transformer: supporting skills and experience
- Changemaker: innovative solutions to social challenges
Over the last five years, the Santander Foundation has provided £26 million in funding to 13,914 UK charities through Discovery Grants and Staff Matched Donations. For more information please visit: www.santanderfoundation.org.uk
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. At 30 June 2018, the bank has c24,200 employees. It serves around 15 million active customers, via a nationwide branch network, telephone, mobile and online banking; and 64 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.