Charity Blackpool's Voice is making a difference to those in need

Blackpool' s Voice, based at its charity shop on 42-44 Foxhall Road, started life on Facebook in July in 2020, aimed at supporting people who were struggling with a range of issues.

But in November that year, founder Sue Davies established it as an official charity and since then its activities have increased.

Marton resident Sue, 47, a grandmother and mum-of-four with a long experience of support for other charities, is now helped by a dozen volunteers, including a trained psychotherapist.

The charity's activities include the provision of emergency food parcels, supporting people with mental health issues, offering counselling, benefit advice and other help.

Part of the group's work involves signposting people to other organisations who can offer the kind of help needed.

Sue said: "The aim is not to keep providing food parcels to people, it's to tide them over while helping them so that they don't need them.

"There are a lot of people in Blackpool who are struggling in all sorts of ways but they have maybe fallen between the cracks and don't know how to get the help they need.

"Some of them have come from terrible backgrounds which they are still struggling to come to term with, or they have lost their jobs during the pandemic and spiralled downwards.

"We basically listen to them and look for a way to try and help them in the right direction."

Blackpool's Voice is financially helped in its work by live online auctions from its Facebook page, where people bid for items on the group's comments section.

The next big one is a wedding auction on Wednesday February 16 from 8pm.

There have also been two grants of £1,000 from the Arnold Clark Community Fund to help community groups affected by the Covid pandemic.

And only last week, Fleetwood Nautical Campus donated a quantity of items for the charity's food parcels.

To find out more about Blackpool's Voice visit https://business.facebook.com/blackpoolsvoice/?fref=tag