A busy week for us all here at Portadown Cares, we had great interest on the page with the old Portadown photographs with loads of comments and interesting stories, bringing back memories for a lot of people of the years gone by.

We have been helping out two local families in need, we helped one single dad with food, electric and beds for his children and another pregnant cople who were in dire need with food, electric, heating, bedding and furnishings. It is heartbreaking to see people living in such circumstances and it is at the same time fantastic to be in a position to help. A big thank you needs to go out to one of our group members Sharon and her young son who brought the second families situation to our attention.

We have been working hard behind the scenes trying to organise a volunteer recruitment drive as there is so much needs done and not enough time or people to do it.

We have also been working quietly away with our community open evening, scheduled for Wednesday 12th February 2014. Letters have went out to local community groups, residents organisations, youth groups, sponsors and all our councillors inviting them to attend. Marie Allen, one of our sponsors has kindly offered to cover the events photography. We hope to have an informal chat with everyone on the evening and ascertain if there is any way Portadown Cares can help.

We also began to organise our Silver Surfers class this week, it is a basic introduction to computers and the internet for the over 55’s. We have a professional IT tutor coming in to take the course which will run on an evening for approximately 6 weeks. The course is open to anyone over 55 and is totally free of charge. Light refreshments with be provided and transport if required.

Tuesday evening we all visited Goal Line Youth Centre and met with the wonderful staff and the young people with learning difficulties. It was a great pleasure to hand over a cheque for £750 to them to go towards the purchase of sensory toy equipment and we have been invited back to see the equipment when it arrives.

One of our committee members attended the Mayors evening at the Civic Centre on Thursday evening where she learned of the problems and need in the area in regard to mental health issues and suicide.

Several hand crocheted blankets were delivered to pensioners and the poorly in the town, these were really appreciated, especially during these colder evenings. Several bouquets of flowers were also delivered in what we term a ‘Community Hug‘ to those locally who had unfortunately been burgled.

We hope you find this ‘Blog’ useful and that it gives you a little insight into some of what we do. If you want to get in touch with us you can do so by pm’ing the facebook page, emailing us on info@portadowncares.org or by mobile number 07858188406.

Thanks for reading and come back soon to find out what we have been up to next.

Portadown Cares