A debt advice service in Bentley, born out of the devastating floods in 2019 to help people with their finances, has benefitted from a charitable donation of £4,000 from Doncaster’s six local Lions Clubs to help continue its work.
CMA Bentley, part of St Peter’s Church, provide free debt advice and were boosted by the timely donation from Doncaster Lions Club through South Yorkshire Community Foundation’s Flood Fund.
Since opening, CMA Bentley have supported thirty clients to deal with more than £250,000 of unmanageable debts. Of those clients, they have successfully helped six of them to apply for a Debt Relief Order (DRO), which has seen £85,611.36 of debt written off.
Upon hearing they had been successful in applying for a DRO, one of the clients, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “That’s amazing. Thank you so much, honestly you don’t understand how much it means and how grateful I am.” They went on to do the Money Essentials Workshop and discovered how to maintain control of their finances in the future.
Karen Jones, centre manager at CMA Bentley, said:
“We are so grateful to Doncaster’s Lions Clubs for this generous donation which will help us extend the life of our project”
“We are here for all the communities of North Doncaster, but we are particularly keen to help clients from Town End and other areas affected by the floods in 2019.”
When the 2019 floods wreaked havoc in the region, the Doncaster Clubs wanted to help and so made an appeal to all Lions Clubs across the UK to help them raise funds.
David Wells, the Lions District Treasurer said: “We became aware of a scheme in the Bentley area where work was being undertaken to support local residents who had found themselves in debt as a result of the flooding and it was decided to make a contribution towards helping this project which met the criteria set for our donations.”
Ruth Willis, CEO of South Yorkshire’s Community Foundation said: “We were heavily involved in the response to the floods and saw the devastation it brought to our communities. People were worried about their financial situations, including managing their existing debts compounded by the floods and later by the Covid-19 pandemic, so this money has been used to lessen the financial stress debt brings to individuals.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
Press contact
Akhlaq Hanif
South Yorkshire Community Foundation Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Tel: 0114 261 5145
Email: ahanif@sycf.org.uk