HELP (Helping Empower Lives in Peterborough) is based at Hereward Cross, and offers support for people living in our Peterborough communities. This includes youth group activities, drop-in sessions, practical support and educational workshops.
Activities and support range from youth cooking sessions and football, to one to one sessions for young people who need wellbeing and mental health support.
HELP also delivers practical support – providing food, clothing, SIM cards, pushchairs and access to their own English lessons and employment advisor.
All of the activities have been in demand and thanks to support from Hyde Charitable Trust and Match My Project – our social value matching platform - these activities can continue.
Youth group
Harry* is a 16 year old boy with autism, who struggles to make friends. He enjoys coming to the youth sessions as they are a safe space to meet new people and take part in social activities. HELP’s occupational therapist is also on hand to support him if he needs a familiar face or help with sensory issues.
Youth football
The youth football is very popular, with a mixture of local young people - white British, Romanian gypsy and refugee teens. They come each week and make friends with other young people they might not normally have socialised with.
G is 18 years old and from Sudan. He’d been unwell with TB and once recovered felt isolated and wanted to make friends and exercise. We gave him some football boots so that he could take part. He also accessed our mental health support at HELP and attended some cooking sessions.
Practical support for Hyde customers
Nadia attends our sewing group for social connection and learning new skills. She asked for help with a pram for her child, which we were able to give her from donated items we received. She also attended classes to improve her English.
We lent Mohammed a laptop for studying English online and gave him a six month internet sim card so he can access the internet to learn English, look for work and keep up with checking his Universal Credit account.
We gave Zoe a bag of food from our donation supplies and completed a food bank referral for her so that she could collect a parcel from Peterborough Food Bank. We also helped her to get in touch with the ‘Household Support Fund’, so she could apply for support with her heating.