A LOCAL charity that helps deaf people beat isolation and lead confident lives has been nominated for a share of £25,000 that The Press is giving away to good causes in our area.

Hearing Dogs for the Deaf, based near Pocklington, trains dogs to help deaf people get their lives back.

James Jones, one of the many people to nominate the charity, said: "We have a core group of volunteers and staff based in and around York who train dogs in their homes, local streets, shops and cafes, to prepare them to be life changers. York is our closest city to our Northern centre and one of our key training grounds for our clever dogs."

Another nomination read: "Most people have heard of Guide Dogs for the blind and will give generously to this fantastic charity - but Hearing Dogs is less well known. Each dog costs £45,000 to train while a puppy, to support throughout their life as an assistance dog - paying all their food and vets bills and providing support for the deaf partner.

"As people live longer so there are more and more people who need support for deafness or hearing impairments, alongside those who are born deaf, or who develop deafness in child/adulthood."

Anita Bartholomew posted: "They train dogs to help deaf adults and children by alerting them to sounds in the home and outdoors (such as alarms, doorbells, phones). This makes them feel safe and less isolated. Many deaf people are afraid to leave the house and the dog gives them more confidence and helps them to get on with everyday life. Those people who have been partnered with a trained dog often say it has completely changed their life."

June Scatchard, a volunteer trainer with the charity, wrote to say the money would be used to train more Hearing Dog puppies to help deaf and hearing-impaired people in the York area to stay safe and reconnect with those around them.

She added: "Hearing Dogs alert their partners to sounds like the door bell, bedside alarm and smoke alarms. By wearing their special burgundy uniform they let the public know their partner is deaf (an often hidden disability). They become their owners best friend and help them to overcome feelings of fear, loneliness and isolation."

Richard Cantrell said: "The charity, based near Pocklington, trains dogs to help deaf people get their lives back. The dogs are trained to alert the deaf person (by nudging their knee) to important, and sometimes life-saving sounds, such as a smoke alarms, door bells, and cooker timers. They can even be trained to alert a deaf mum when her baby is crying. Deafness is very isolating, and a trained hearing dog gives a deaf person independence and confidence, and really transforms their lives."

The charity is just one of several local charities being nominated for a share of the cash, which comes from The Press's parent company’s charitable arm, The Gannett Foundation.

Nominees so far include SNAPPY, Shine 21, Haxby Memorial Hall, The Island, York Wheels, Door 84, The Hut York, Kyra Women's project, and York Samaritans.

Please note, these charities DO NOT need to be nominated again. Once the deadline for nominations closes - on October 3 - we will be selecting eight finalists - with the eventual winners chosen by Press readers, who will each receive a share of the money.

If you have a DIFFERENT local charity to nominate please do so through this online form: www.yorkpress.co.uk/readerschoice/

How to nominate:

Making a nomination couldn’t be easier – simply send us the details via the attachment at the bottom of this article or visit: www.yorkpress.co.uk/readerschoice/

You will need to confirm the name and charity number of the local charity you’d like to nominate and why it deserves the cash - and what it will spend it on. Send us some photos too! Please make sure it is a different charity to the ten already nominated: SNAPPY, Shine 21, Haxby Memorial Hall, The Island, York Wheels, Door 84, The Hut York, Kyra Women's project, York Samaritans, and Hearing Dogs for the Deaf.

How you can vote for the winners:

Once all nominations have been received, we will select eight to be featured in this year’s grants scheme.

We’re then going to put the power to allocate the cash back into the hands of our readers – for four weeks, readers will be invited to collect tokens from our newspapers which can then be sent to collection points across our region or posted.

Each token collected will then be used to allocate cash to the nominated charity – so if your favourite charity collects 50 per cent of all the tokens collected, it will receive 50 per cent of the funding.

Rules:

The Press’ parent company’s charitable arm, The Gannett Foundation, is providing the £25,000 to give away in our local area.

Entries must be registered charities and must not have received a grant from the scheme within the last two years.

Grants will not be awarded for payments such as salaries, professional fees or day-to-day running or maintenance costs or projects that do not bring benefits to local communities.

Grants have been awarded in the past to York charities including Holgate Windmill, which used the money to buy equipment enabling it to produce flour, Citizens Advice York and The Regen Centre, a charity in Riccall which used the funding for its ‘Changing Places’ project - adapting one of its changing rooms at its community centre for people with disabilities.

Deadline:

Nominations must be received by the closing date of Sunday, October 3, 2021.

Send us your nomination now via the link below...