Support Hope Central's Vital Services

Aim

We want to ensure that we can keep our services going so that we can help people who live in poverty in NE Cheshire and bring hope to them

Hope Central is a charity based in NE Cheshire which helps people in need through its various services. Our strapline is 'relieving poverty, bringing hope'. We are fundraising to make sure we can fund these services so that we can carry on reaching those most in need in our community.  Last year, our Debt Centre was supported through the AVIVA Community Fund and we raised over £10,000 which was an amazing lifeline for that specific service enabling us to continue helping those in debt to become financially free. We want to further this and raise £15,000 towards all our Hope Central services. 

Why are we fundraising?

Our ultimate aim is that our services will no longer be needed. However, at the moment, we are seeing a huge demand for our services. Figures from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation show that around 25% of people in the North-West of England were in poverty in the year up to January 2025. We operate in areas that are in the top 20% of the most deprived in the country. We want to be there to support these people but we cannot do that without funding like this. We do not charge for our services as the people we serve often have little or no money. 

How will your money be used? 

Your money will go towards the essential costs to make Hope Central run. This includes the rent we pay to operate in community buildings close to those who need our services, the salaries of our small staff team.

What do we do?

We run various services to support people but our aim to make tangible, long-lasting change for people so they are empowered to be self-sustaining. Humans are whole beings, and so we consider a service user's whole situation when working with them. People are often referred to us by professionals who are working with them and then we establish what the issue underlying is and we have a comprehensive set of services to support that individual.  Whether they need our Debt Centre and our Foodbank or they need a job through the Job Club. We will then connect individuals with other local partners to help with other issues if needs be too. 

FOODBANK

We run an emergency Food Bank where we give people a parcel of food for a limited amount of weeks to help them on their way. This may be because they are out of work and have to wait 5 weeks until they receive any benefits. It may be that they are self-employed and have not had any work come in. We all need a helping hand sometimes. We deliver these parcels to then have a conversation to see if we can support them in any other way, and connect them in with our other services below and our local partners to get people back on their feet. 

DEBT CENTRE
In conjunction with Christians Against Poverty (CAP), we run a Debt Centre giving people free debt advice in their homes. Our amazing Debt Coaches go to a client's home along with our friendly volunteer befrienders to meet with them and go through their financial situation. CAP's Debt Advisors will then provide a financial statement and advice on a route out of debt. Throughout the process, the Debt Coach and the befriender will accompany that client until the day when we can celebrate them being debt free!

LIFE SKILLS

A free course exploring practical skills which will help make money go further (eg. eating well on a budget, energy prices and bills) as well as managing wellbeing on a low income and many other tips in a safe confidential environment. It's a practical course which gets members learning how to cook budget-friendly meals and looking at energy bill examples.

JOB CLUB 

A free course looking at reducing the barriers to employment. It starts with identifying goals and strengths before then going onto CV skills, interview skills and where to start with looking for job searches. This course also involves 1-1 personal coaching with our personable Job Coaches. We've seen an 84% success rate of getting people back into employment, education or volunteering opportunities.

ENGLISH CLASSES
We run weekly free English classes with community building at the centre. The lessons focus on practical skills and language for everyday life. These are perfect for anyone who is new to the area and wants to sharpen their skills or learn about British culture.

PANTRY 

We have recently opened a Pantry in Handforth, in partnership with Your Local Pantry. This is a social supermarket aimed at being an affordable support for people. It operates on a membership model, allowing members to choose their own items—including fresh produce, cupboard staples, household goods, and personal care items—for a small weekly membership fee. This allows for dignity of choice as well as empowerment in managing a weekly budget. 

HOPE CENTRES

These are a weekly relaxed drop-in for people to come along and access our services. There's an opportunity for attendees to share good news, listen to a hope-filled thought for the day, a free lunch, plenty of brews. It's a place aimed to reduce isolation and loneliness as well as create positive communities. 

MONEY COACHING

A free course that looks at the basics of budgeting, managing money, navigating debt and credit, as well as scam awareness through a series of videos, activities and discussions in a safe confidential environment.

Why give to this cause? 
The need we are seeing is rising and we are expectant that with the current landscape of rising energy costs and high cost of food, this trend is going to continue. We work hard to make sure that every pound donated counts and we have over 120 volunteers who support this work. This money will go towards the general costs of the charity

This project successfully funded on 20th December 2025