News Articles

  • SEFF

    SEFF (South East Fermanagh Foundation) opened its first charity shop on Thursday 2nd June.

  • Banks have been warned that it's "not fair" to automatically blame customers for money lost through a scam.Last year, customers transferred nearly £240m to fraudsters, only a quarter of which was refunded by financial firms.

  • Established in 2016, the Scamwise NI partnership now has over 30 members, each one sharing their own unique knowledge on how to protect the more vulnerable of our society.

  • With sole traders and small businesses struggling due to lower consumer spending, higher rates and other overheads, higher wage costs and the looming Brexit uncertainty, saving may seem like an extravagance that many just cannot afford.

  • The General Data Protection Regulation, more commonly known as GDPR will come into effect on 25th May 2018.  It is the biggest change to personal data privacy in over 25 years.

  • Advice NI has dealt with 270,000 enquiries mostly related to social security issues. Food banks have grown from 2 operating in 2011 to at least 14 this year.

  • Sands Northern Ireland Network (SandsNI) is the regional branch of SandsUK. Sands was founded in 1978 by a small group of bereaved parents devastated by the death of their babies and in particular what they felt was a complete lack of knowledge and understanding of the significance and impact of their loss. Sands has around 100 support groups across the UK with 10 of these in Northern Ireland. All the support groups are run by trained Sands Befrienders who are bereaved parents themselves and have been supported through their grief by Sands and are now giving that support back to other parents. Steven Guy, SandsNI Network Co-ordinator saysSandsNI provides support to bereaved parents through our monthly support evenings where parents can chat informally over a cup of tea or coffee about how they are coping with their loss. We also provide every maternity & neonatal unit in Northern Ireland with Sands leaflet packs and Memory Boxes. The Memory Boxes include a hand-knit blanket, 2(Identical) teddy bears, one for baby, one for the parents and an inkless hand & footprint kit. The boxes encourage parents to create as many memories of their baby as possible in the short time they have with them. Training, accredited by the Royal College of Midwives, is also provided to health professionals and is delivered by the SandsUK team of facilitators. We also support research into the causes of baby deaths and in 2014 £50,000 was donated by SandsNI to fund several SandsUK projects. We have a NI Helpline 07740993450 which is available during office hours for parents to speak to someone about their loss. We have a dedicated Baby Garden in Portadown where parents can lay a simple stone with their baby’s name hand-painted on it among the flowers and plants in the garden and next to the other babies stones. We also have 2 Christmas carol services, Portadown and Derry, where parents are invited to buy a toy or gift for the age their child would be each Christmas. These toys & gifts are donated to the St Vincent De Paul/ Salvation Army toy appeal. Everything we do is funded by the fundraising efforts of the parents we support and we are extremely grateful to everyone who fundraises for us because without their efforts we could not continue to support the parents who are bereaved every year in Northern Ireland.