Around 29,000 children live in poverty in Hertfordshire, even before the cost of housing is taken into account
During 2022/23 HCF provided over 448 small grants across the county, distributing over £130,000 but we often received more requests for help than we are able to fulfill
Alex Elmadhi from St. Albans said: “As a mum with five year old twins, I was facing relationship and financial difficulties, and struggling to make ends meet. When my fridge stopped working, I didn’t know how I would find the money to replace it. Fortunately my support worker referred me for a grant from HCF, which helped me buy a fridge. I was incredibly grateful for HCF’s help without which I don’t know what I would have done.”
Citizens Advice Hertsmere: "I would like to say how vital Hertfordshire Children’s Fund is to the work that we do. Amongst numerous other problems, Citizens Advice supports struggling families and the need for white goods, beds etc has increased enormously with the rise in the cost of living. Both working families and those on benefits are not able to afford to replace any items that are needed to care for their children.
A broken washing machine can be a disaster for a family - the need to use the launderette proves just too expensive for many of them and washing by hand for a family with 3 children is onerous. A broken fridge freezer means that families need to shop more frequently which proves much more expensive. 2 or 3 children sleeping in one single bed means that no one gets a proper night’s sleep and parents are frequently disturbed through the night.
Hertfordshire Children’s Fund are a wonderful resource for me when I am looking for grants for families with children. Their application form is relatively simple to complete. Their decision is fast and I have many happy and relieved families due to their superb."