About the scheme

MISSION STATEMENT
This voucher scheme was created to help people in need, either directly or through organisations that support people, to buy food, groceries, toiletries, household items/pet food, non-alcoholic drink and children’s clothing/baby food from high street shops like Aldi, Asda, Greggs, Primark, etc. We can only operate through the kind donations from our supporters via Justgiving, Easyfundraising and most recently, £1000 from the Movement for good (through the Benefact Trust). We will help all sorts of people including woman’s refuge, homeless, ex-offenders, disability groups, etc I currently work with organisations from Bournemouth, Bedford, Leicestershire, Shrewsbury and Manchester, but happy to take requests from anywhere in the UK.

MISSION STATEMENT

This voucher scheme was created to help people in need, either directly or through organisations that support people, to buy food, groceries, toiletries, household items/pet food, non-alcoholic drink and children’s clothing/baby food from high street shops like Aldi, Asda, Greggs, Primark, etc. We can only operate through the kind donations from our supporters via Justgiving, Easyfundraising and most recently, £1000 from the Movement for good (through the Benefact Trust). We will help all sorts of people including woman’s refuge, homeless, ex-offenders, disability groups, etc

I currently work with organisations from Bournemouth, Bedford, Leicestershire, Shrewsbury and Manchester, but happy to take requests from anywhere in the UK.

LATEST NEWS Last updated: 29/10/2023

THANK YOU FOR NOMINATING US….. WE WON AN AWARD

We’re delighted to tell you that you are one of the 150 winning charities in our second Movement for Good Awards draw and you’ll be receiving £1,000! The purpose of our Movement for Good Awards is to help charities continue their great work, so we hope that £1,000 will make a positive difference.
NEWSLETTER
Please check out our first newsletter: Our first newsletter – Your support is needed please
VOLUNTEERING – TRUSTEE WANTED
We are looking for an active trustee to join Theresa, Jo, Tej and Mack. Preferably someone with a knowledge of website developing and/or grant/fund applications. Please email me to offer your help… pifvouchers@outlook.com
PIF VOUCHERS NOW AT THE LIFE CAFE, OAKINGTON
The LIFE Cafe at 1 Longstanton Road, Oakington, Cambridge. (part of the 5aside chess organisation) is trialling a new PIF voucher tracking system
SUCCESSFUL ‘LOVE CAMBRIDGE’ CARD PROJECT – ANOTHER 10 x £20 CARDS FUNDED
Between Innomech, Ann Hawkins, founder of the The Drive Network and Lynda Jealot Design, we are pleased to be able to support Wintercomfort,’s service users by supporting their project/support workers so they can to spend these instead of using their own budget.
NEW ORGANISATION – PROJECT FLUTTER
Project Flutter provides Butterfly Boxes, Bags and Comfort Cushions to newly diagnosed kidney cancer patients who are starting treatment. Hoping to reduce isolation and anxiety at a difficult time, whilst raising awareness.

wintercomfort

“PAY IT FORWARD VOUCHERS ARE SUCH A WONDERFUL WAY TO GIVE OUR HOMELESS SERVICE USERS CHOICE. WE DISTRIBUTE THE VOUCHERS HERE AT WINTERCOMFORT, ENABLING PEOPLE TO TREAT THEMSELVES TO THE ITEMS OF THEIR CHOOSING WHEN THEY WISH TO DO SO.

THE VOUCHERS ARE ALWAYS SO GRATEFULLY RECEIVED WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY AND WE’RE SO THANKFUL FOR THE SUPPORT OF THERESA AND THE TEAM.”

Request for Aldi & Primark vouchers

‘With winter approaching and cost of living and fuel prices rising we have increasing numbers of clients who are struggling financially. PIFGIFT VOUCHERS has helped us to support families get ready for winter by buying coats for their children.’

chs-group-original

“This is a brilliant scheme that many of our young people benefit from.

Only yesterday staff gave one of these vouchers to one of our residents who said “this is great, I’ll be able to eat today”.

cyrenians logo

CHS WISBECH LOGO

For a resident who has not got a lot of things in their room and would like to make it homely.

CHS WISBECH LOGO

I just wanted to give you some feedback from the £20 B & M voucher you kindly gave us this week.

This resident spent the £20 on some new things for her room. She is over the moon with them and glad she has been finally able to purchase some items. It’s the little things that really do make a difference.

Bundles that love

Bundles that Love – Bournemouth
We support families in crisis and we are incredibly grateful to PIFgiftvouchers for helping us to support a mother in crisis who needs baby milk. What a great concept this is and we thank you so much.

growkids

Need winter coat for young girl

SHP [single hless project]

SINGLE HOMELESS PROJECT
They require some food, a single bed, and a bed sheet set – was able to give them a voucher for food, bedsheet, duvet cover and kettle

wellness tribe logo

About the project

My name is Theresa, a Birmingham lass at heart but lived in Cambridge for about 20 years.

I started, what was then Pay it Forward gift vouchers in July 2018 after seeing homeless people on the streets of Cambridge, not wanting to give them money or buy them a sandwich in case they had a food intolerance, were vegetarian or some other dietary restriction.

I approached the Black Cat café on Mill Road and they were interested in the idea. But I didn’t know how would I do it.

Azad, the owner came up with the idea of a gift voucher and the project was born…

I then felt that I wanted to avoid both people in need and staff being embarrassed about being declined if the café had no vouchers available, so I approached Wintercomfort about them accepting and distributing vouchers. They were happy to and put me in touch with James McWilliams from Cambridge City Council who agreed to fund the printing of the vouchers for shops and cafes in Cambridge… With this funding in place it meant I could invite more shops and cafes to join…

I then felt that I needed to track each voucher from its point of sale through supporting organisations (if applicable) and back to the shop/café it was purchased from.

Felix Fearnley of The Village Common created a tracking system. This system is fundamental in the running of the scheme. However, it still needs a bit or work doing to make it the way I want it.

Sadly I couldn’t get the tracking system to work… Then Covid hit and the scheme almost stopped but then I found www.evouchers.com and the scheme was reborn to The Pay it Forward Voucher Scheme…. I have partnered with organisations from across the UK and always looking to help more.

Printing of the vouchers in Cambridge was funded by Cambridge City Council .

Street Aid (part of Cambridge City Council) supports the homeless in Cambridge. https://www.cambscf.org.uk/cambridge-street-aid

With financial banking from the team behind Street Aid I was able to get the vouchers printed at no cost to the businesses, and to communicate a source of help to the homeless by adding the details to the back about Street Aid.

Pechakucha – 20 images, each for 20 seconds

PechaKucha’s 20×20 presentation format shows your 20 chosen images, each for 20 seconds. In other words, you’ve got 400 seconds to tell your story, with visuals guiding the way. PechaKucha means “chit chat” in Japanese. This creative outlet began as night time get-togethers in Tokyo in 2003 by two renowned architects.

I presented a slideshow about my vouchers at a Pechakucha evening…

https://www.pechakucha.com/presentations/pay-it-forward-gift-vouchers

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