Could you, or someone you know, benefit from a Six Point Foundation grant?

“I simply do not know how to express my thanks and gratitude to you for helping me out with the massive service charges recently presented to me. I have had sleepless nights over how to meet this demand” – Holocaust survivor who received a grant from Six Point Foundation to help with a large bill they were finding difficult to pay.

This is the last appeal you will ever receive from Six Point Foundation (and, don’t worry, we are not asking for money – just the opposite in fact!): This Rosh HaShanah please check in with every Holocaust survivor and refugee you know in the UK. Could they benefit from a Six Point Foundation grant?

Six Point Foundation is closing, as planned, in March 2017. Over the next 6 months, we aim to reach and help as many struggling Holocaust survivors and refugees as possible. Please visit the SPF website for more information.

As is the case with any group of people, there are some Holocaust survivors and refugees who struggle financially. However, with this particular group, some of the reasons behind cases of financial distress are directly related to their experiences of Nazi persecution. That is why it is so important to help and to be on the lookout for survivors and refugees who may be struggling.

Since making its first grants in 2012, SPF has helped more than 315 survivors and refugees in financial need directly with more than £1.4m in grants approved for one-off goods and services to enhance quality of life, such as home adaptations, travel costs and temporary care.

One survivor, who was hiding from the Nazis at a very young age and in extremely damp conditions, suffered lung development issues, which worsened to a stage where their only chance of survival was to receive a lung transplant abroad. SPF has been able to support them with the overwhelming medical bills.

SPF has also supported a survivor to attend a grandchild’s Bar Mitzvah in the USA. She said: I would like to tell you how much I appreciate that you made it possible for me to travel to my grandson’s Bar Mitzvah. The fact that you gave me the funds also for my daughter to accompany me, made this trip a pleasure… to have undertaken this arduous trip by myself, would have been well-nigh impossible… The climax of the trip was to be at the Bar Mitzvah of my grandson… He read from the Torah very ably and I was so happy that I could be there to hear him. I think he was very happy that his grandmother came all the way from England, just for him!

SPF also offers the SPF Connect computer scheme for Holocaust survivors and refugees living in the UK who are not online and who find using computers tricky. SPF Connect, unlike SPF grants to individuals in financial need, is open to all survivors and refugees regardless of their financial circumstances.

Those who take part sign up as a SPF Connect Member and receive the following package free of charge until May 2020: a touch-screen desktop computer with specially designed software to allow communication with family and friends anywhere in the world; installation and training; Internet connection; support; access to a range of entertainment, such as music and e-book libraries; and live Jewish cultural events streamed online.

Over 250 survivors and refugees have already signed up and there is room for 200 more. If you know a survivor or refugee who could benefit, please act now and contact SPF on 020 3372 8882 or info@sixpointfoundation.org.uk before it is too late!