11 June 2020

Turn your everyday online shopping into Free Donations, why not subscribe to Easy Fundraising which has 1000s of shops and help raise donations for The Stone Foundation.

We offer housing and emotional and practical support for people who may be homeless, who find it difficult to manage themselves, their emotions, their finances and their homes for whatever reason. Your donations will help us help vulnerable people find and keep a home of their own. Please support us

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/cau…/thestonefoundation/…

retailers include eBay, John Lewis, Argos, Amazon, Sainsbury’s

14^th Feb 2019

We were really pleased to hear that the Co-op had nominated us as one of the causes for their Green Token Scheme last year.

We are even more delighted to have received a cheque for £500 from them last week.

A huge thank-you to all the customers and staff at the Needham Market, Barking Road and Barham co-op stores who supported us. With your support, we can continue to help vulnerable people gain the skills needed to sustain and maintain a tenancy. Our Pre-Tenancy Training reduces the risk of homelessness and ensures susceptible or young people get the support and knowledge to run a home of their own.

Elaine Thomas CEO

14 December 2018

We’re really pleased to tell you that the Co-op will be collecting tokens for the Stone Foundation from Monday 17th June at the following stores for 3 months;

• Needham Market
• Barking Road
• Barham

With your help and support, we can continue to help vulnerable people gain the skills needed to sustain and maintain a tenancy. Our Pre-Tenancy Training reduces the risk of homelessness and ensures susceptible or young people get the support and knowledge to run a home of their own.

The Community Token Scheme is only open to members of the Co-op. If any of you would like to vote for TSF but aren’t members – don’t worry! It’s straightforward to join – you can sign up online atwww.eastofengland.coop/membership or in any of the co-op stores.

18 May 2017

£500 raised at a charity event at the Weekend

Despite threats of rain and a chill wind, a good number of people attended an event hosted by the Holmans in their lovely garden in Witnesham on Saturday.

The garden ‘fete’ had a cake stall with scrumptious Victoria sponges alongside delicious fruit cakes and scones made by friends and locals; a bookstall with enough books to open a shop; bric-a-brac and homemade jewellery stalls and bowls. The entry fee covered the cost of a glass of prosecco and a homemade scone with all the works.

Over £1000 was made in total, with half going to the Wolverstone Macmillan Support Centre and half to the Stone Foundation.

In addition to thanks to the hosts and the wonderful folk who provided cakes, books etc, we would also like to thank the following for their very generous raffle prizes:

Fynn Valley Golf Club who donated the first prize of an 18-hole round of golf for 4 people;

Rococco Hair & Beauty who donated the second and third prizes of a Dermalogica Facial and cleanse cut and finish respectively;

Waitrose – £10 gift voucher

Sainsbury’s and Tescos – wine

Richard’s Of Witnesham – a fruit hamper

The money raised for the Stone Foundation will go towards the Pre-Tenancy Training initiative which we hope to launch this summer.

24 April 2017

Huge thanks to the Felixstowe Community Choir, who presented the Stone Foundation with a cheque for £1000 at the Orwell Hotel.

The choir raises money from raffles and members’ subscriptions which it uses to cover running costs etc, any surplus being donated to charities. Over the 4 years since they started, they have donated £21000 to local charities. The Stone Foundation was one of three other local charities to receive £1000 on this occasion.

The Stone Foundation has been trying very hard to raise sufficient funds to launch its new initiative – Pre-Tenancy Training – so it was a wonderful surprise to receive this money quite out of the blue. The £1000 will go some way to meeting our initial target.

The pre-tenancy training – the first of its kind in Suffolk, is designed to equip more vulnerable, first-time tenants with all the necessary skills to manage their home and their finances with confidence. The training will be interactive and practical, covering everything from reading a meter to money management; to efficient shopping and nutritional cooking; to respecting neighbours and the immediate environment. Its aim is to reduce homelessness and enable people to access and sustain a home of their own now and in the future.

All donations towards this super initiative very welcome!

16 November 2016

Another opportunity to raise funds for the Stone Foundation. Join up to the Giving Machine FOR FREE and every time you shop online with certain stores e.g. amazon, John Lewis,

Join up to the Giving Machine FOR FREE and every time you shop online with certain stores e.g. amazon, John Lewis, eBay etc., they donate 1% to your chosen charity.

Please would you all sign-up and choose the Stone Foundation (you can choose up to 3 others too if you wish) then whenever you buy goods from their connected stores, money will be received by the stone Foundation?

15 November 2016

Someone has nominated the Stone Foundation for the Hot chocolate Fund http://www.galaxyhotchocolate.com/…/pr…/the-stone-foundation They are looking to help small, local community projects and groups through Their GALAXY Hot Chocolate Fund.

From November 7th, 2016 until February 26th, 2017, they are seeking to award a total of seventy, £300 donations to help community groups and people across UK and Ireland.

Five donations will be awarded each week, four by their panel of judges and one through the People’s Choice award to the organisation with the most weekly votes.

Will you vote for us?

31 March 2016

The Stone Foundation receives cheque for £275 from Waitrose raised through their ‘Community Matters (Green token) scheme.

Elaine Thomas received the cheque yesterday and would like to thank Waitrose and their customers for supporting the charity so generously.

The money will help fund the setting up our brand new initiative which will enable inexperienced, vulnerable tenants and prospective tenants to understand and accept the responsibilities of having and sustaining a home of their own.

5th February 2016

It was a real privilege to have James Cartlidge, MP for South Suffolk visit staff and trustees of the Stone Foundation at their Head office in Sproughton last Friday.

“James accepted an invitation to join us for lunch when I wrote to him a few months ago to promote the launch of our fantastic new charity” said Elaine Thomas, CEO. “He was very interested to learn more about what we are hoping to achieve in this area”.

Trustees of the Board, along with some of the staff from Stepping Stones, the founding organisation of the Charity, talked at length with James about the lack of housing options for people moving on from supported housing and people who are vulnerable and find it difficult to access and maintain accommodation without help.

James is Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Housing and Planning and one of his passions is looking for solutions to the housing crisis. He was therefore particularly interested in hearing about our plans to source properties in the private sector. He learned that there are quite a few properties in Suffolk which are empty for a variety of reasons, which local councils are working pro-actively to address. One of their solutions is to offer ways in which those properties could be brought back into use by people who are waiting for social housing for example, utilising the services offered by charities such as the Stone Foundation.
One of James’ other main interests is that of getting people back into employment and he had recently visited another Suffolk based organisation called In2BK2 which does just that. This has given us food for thought in terms of contacting them to see if they might wish to work with us so that we can offer a more holistic service.

To counteract the sometimes quite heavy discussion around housing and homelessness, Stepping Stones IT guys set up their amazing Mind Racing game for James to try. The game involves attaching a band to the head which is in turn remotely attached to one of three racing cars. The object of the game is to use the power of concentration to make the car move. The winner is the car that completes the most laps in 2 minutes. James competed against Sue Jackman and Emily Keeble and although it would be unfair to say who came last, Sue must be congratulated on her win of 10 laps. It was a great way to end what had been a very interesting and stimulating lunch.

29 July 2015

Finally, after months of research, reams of paperwork and oodles of patience, the Stone Foundation has been officially registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation – a new form of Charity.

The Stone foundation Registration Certificate

The charity’s aim is to provide accommodation with tenancy support or rather tenancy coaching for people who are vulnerable and in financial hardship. The idea stems from the need to find suitable accommodation for people who are ready to move on from supported housing. Historically, supported housing tenants have been given priority through Choice Based Lettings in the provision of Council or Housing Association accommodation, but increasingly, this option is becoming less viable due to scarcer resources and people are therefore ‘missing the boat’.

“People reach a point in their recovery during their stay in supported housing when they feel ready to move into a more independent setting; if they are not able to move at that time, their recovery may be impeded. It is therefore important that the right accommodation can be found at the right time”.

Ultimately, the Charity would also wish to provide a similar service to anyone who struggles to access and maintain accommodation because they need some level of support, but this will depend on the number of properties that are offered. With this in mind, the Charity will aim to work with property owners, landlords and local authorities with a view to acquiring accommodation in the private sector on a full tenancy management basis. These properties will be let to vulnerable people who will be supported in a way that encourages them to stick to their obligations as a tenant – pay their rent, keep the property ‘in a tenant like manner’ etc. Rent deposit guarantees will be provided so that landlords will not lose out on either rental income or have to make good any damage to the property.

Part of our remit will therefore be to work with Local Authorities to try to get empty properties back into use (of which there are many throughout the county), by utilising any grant funding that we manage to obtain in addition to pots of money for that purpose that Local Authorities may have.

The charity currently has 8 willing men and women who have agreed to be trustees, but we need more (up to 12 in total). We really need people who are landlords/have experience of private sector rentals, people with a good knowledge of benefits and people who have experience of accessing funding.

This organisation is in its utmost infancy and there is a great deal of work to be carried out in order to move things forward, not least being applying for funding. Any help in this respect would be most welcome

Easy Fundraising

Giving Lottery

Thank you

Co-op Community Token Scheme

Christmas Jumper Day with Mavam Group

Coddenham Open Garden event

Well done & Thank you Paul Green

Paul Green is running for us

THANK YOU

£500 raised at charity event

Thank you to the Felixstowe Community Choir

Join up to the Giving Machine

Galaxy Hot Chocolate Fund

Waitrose Community Matters Scheme

James Cartlidge, MP for South Suffolk visit

We have been officially registered