List of Northampton charities and a guide of how exactly you can help to make a difference

If you feel like you constantly want help charities and make a difference on your doorstep then here's a local list of amazing groups who could all benefit from small handouts, or bigger cash donations.

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The Hope Centre

The Hope Centre offers help to vulnerable people who are in unstable accommodation by providing services such as food and clothing to people in extreme poverty and with complex disadvantages, including problems of homelessness, drugs and alcohol and mental health.

Their aim is to help their clients become employable through skills and training.

How can I make a donation?

Time: Donations of time in the form of volunteering of specific skills: marketing, accountancy, administration, shop retail, clothes sorting, driving (collections and distribution), gardening, warehouse management.

Clothes: Clothes for homeless people to wear and for our charity shop to raise money for what we do. New or used clean underwear

Food: Food is needed for their day centre and food club, which include: rice, tea, fresh vegetables and fruit, milk, eggs, bacon and sausages, cheese, bread, cereals, tinned or jars of sauces – for pasta etc, tinned meat and fish, toilet roll, squash.

Garden tools: Old garden tools for recycling are needed for their club. Handles and shafts can be broken but metal must be good/repairable.

Also racking is in need for their warehouses and storerooms.

If you want to donate money online click here.

If you can help call 01604 214300 or email [email protected]

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Northamptonshire Health Charitable Fund

NHCF are the registered charity for Northampton General Hospital and the Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trustm who aims to enhance patient experience beyond what the NHS can fund.

They exist to make things better for patients, their families and the staff who treat them by providing cash for important equipment, research and all the important extras that make our hospitals and community services so special.

How can I make a donation?

The volunteer service at NGH offers a vital buggy service to patients and visitors which makes an incredible 260 journeys per week. NHCF need to replace one of the older buggies so that the service is not suspended for good.

Unfortunately, they can’t have just an ordinary golf buggy due to the narrow corridors and tight corners in the hospital. So the buggy needed has to be made to measure for the hospital. NHCF are working with a company to build a bespoke buggy so that is it perfect for the job in hand. Having a buggy service at NGH means that not only patients and visitors, who are less able to walk the distance to appointments or to be with loved ones, are assisted, but the buggy also helps people feel less anxious about attending their appointments.

If you want to donate to this cause:

££ Cash ££ – At the cashiers office, Billing Road entrance to the hospital (please quote Volunteers Buggy)

Cheque – Made payable to NHCF (volunteers buggy)

You can call the charity on 01604 626927 if you have any queries or email [email protected]

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Cynthia Spencer

Cynthia Spencer Hospice provides specialist palliative care services for South Northamptonshire, and their sister hospice, Cransley Hospice provides similar services for the north of the county.

How can I make a donation?

A really important area of fundraising for Cynthia Spencer Hospice and Cransley Hospice is regular giving.

The team ask for small amounts to be donated to the hospice regularly, which will help their care teams to be able to better plan budgets in advance and therefore enable them to make long-term improvements to the care and support they give to patients and their families.

Despite the stability that these donations give the hospice and the costly cheque processing costs that they save, regular gifts form just one per cent of the donations the hospice currently receives.

There’s information on their website about how people can set up a regular donation, both online or using a downloaded paper form.

To donate £5 a month online, click here.

To download a direct debit form, click here.

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The Lewis Foundation

The Lewis Foundation was set up after Lorraine Lewis and her husband Lee spent a significant amount of time at the Talbot Butler Ward at Northampton General Hospital where Lorraine's mother-in-law Janice was receiving treatment.

They noticed how sad and bored patients looked on the wards and in the private rooms when they were on their own, without family and friends.

The couple spoke about what they could do to give patients something to look forward to, to take their minds off their illness and the seemingly endless treatments. Drawing from their own personal experiences, they knew that for patients and their families struggle financially, emotionally and physically throughout the treatment phase.

How can I make a donation?

The Lewis Foundation provides a free gift pack to adults receiving treatment for cancer in hospital. This is to keep people occupied during treatment and have something nice to look forward to.

Puzzle books, playing cards, cross stitch kits, knitting kits, brand new magazines, razors and shaving gel, deodorant, anti-bacterial gel, eye masks and ear plugs, adult colouring books, notebooks and pens, pocket mirror, hard boiled sweets, portable radio or CD player, blankets and neck pillows.

Each gift pack costs £3.60 per pack and readers can donate here: www.justgiving.com/lewis-foundation

Contact number: 07528167341

Email: [email protected]

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Baby Basics Northampton

Baby Basics Northampton relies on the generosity of the community to donate items for disadvantaged families, including basics for mum and newborn essentials, which they pack in Moses baskets and gift to mums in need in Northamptonshire.

The charity - which was first established in Grange Park in 2012 - works with midwives, health visitors and other professionals to make sure the starter packs are referred appropriately.

Baby Basics' supplies often mums if they are fleeing domestic violence if they are a refugee, or trying to break the cycle of crime.

How can I make a donation?

Currently, the charity is in need of Moses baskets, towels and muslin swaddles.

For the babies, they require baby sponges, cotton wool, baby lotion, nappy sacks, bottle brushes and toothbrushes and paste from birth.

For mums, toiletries are needed, which include such as breast and maternity pads, shampoo and conditioner, toothbrush and paste.

If you want to drop your items off in person then you can visit:

Kairos Centre, Wilks Walk, Grange Park, NN4 5DW (between 9.30am-12.30 noon, on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday).

Emmanuel Church, Weston Favell Shopping Centre, NN3 8JR (Monday to Friday from 10am to 2pm).

The Entertainer Toy Shop, The Grosvenor Centre, 29/31 Princes Walk, Northampton, NN1 2EL (Saturdays only from 9am to 6pm).

If you want to donate money online you can do so here: localgiving.org/charity/babybasicsnorthampton/

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Weston Favell Centre Food Bank

In 2018, 1,076 food parcels were handed out by Emmanuel Church, in Weston Favell Shopping Centre, to people in the Eastern District of Northampton who are in poverty. These parcels, on average, would have fed a family of three, which is 3,228 people for three days at a time.

The provision of hot meals handed out by Cafe Emm to Weston Favell Centre Food Bank users has also seen a year-on-year increase of 232 per cent. This money was spent on 142 food bank users who access Weston Favell Centre Food Bank, giving them a slice of toast and a cup of tea, some of whom have not eaten for a few days.

But it is not just emergency food parcels and hot meals they fund. In January this year, £852 has been spent almost entirely on helping people in fuel poverty, but the food bank now even pays for pet food and clothes if people are in need.

What can I donate?

While the the food bank is really appreciative of all donations, at the moment it really needs tinned meat and fish, granulated sugar, cooking oil, salt, tinned fruit, razors, shower gel and washing powder.

To donate cash, click here: localgiving.org/charity/weston-favell-centre-foodbank/

To donate food visit:

- Emmanuel Church, Weston Favell Centre, NN3 8JR

- Tesco Northampton South Extra, Clannell Road, Northampton, open 24 hours.

- Waitrose Wootton ,Newport Pagnell Road , Northampton, 7am - 10pm.

- Waitrose Kingsthorpe , Harborough Road , Northampton, from 8am – 9pm.

Email: [email protected]

Call: 01604 402150

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If you are a Northampton-based charity and would like to be added to the list then email: [email protected]