“My experience has been great, thank you for existing and creating such a tool. The best thing is that it brings all the help you can get in one place...it gives you hope that you are about to reach the light of help.”

“A lot of things can be daunting and people can be ashamed and overwhelmed looking for support but Lightning Reach makes it very effective at what it needs to do. It puts people at ease using it.”

“When you can't provide for your children it can be a very stressful and lonely situation...it has taken so much stress off, the place now feels like a home for me and my children.”

“It (the portal) is massively valuable, giving you options you don’t realise are out there, for people who think there is no way out this gives them hope.”

“It was easy to access and all the information was very clear to understand. I could see there was a lot of support to access to get help."

"Putting all support under one click of a button has taken all the stress away from applying for support.”

"The Lightning Reach portal meant I was just clicks away from getting an answer and the money we needed to get through this difficult period”

“Lightning Reach is really good for directing you to all the right places. I am truly grateful, the award meant we could have a warm meal and pack lunches for at least the next month!”

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““It was surprisingly quick...it took away the worry of having to turn the heating off as the bills went sky high. I just think it's [the portal] a brilliant idea, really helpful, glad I found it!”

“For somebody not good with computers you really helped…that did a lot of good for me. I have learnt a lot...I managed to do the second one [application] on my own."

"It has helped me think clearer, and it’s been great to see what help is out there... It has really helped me in reducing my stress, both mentally and physically.”

“It’s nice to know there is help available. It’s a good thing organisations like yourselves are trying to help in the time we are living in now.” 

“I don't normally apply for things like this... It relieved my stress, the grant really helped to get me through that month.”

"[Lightning Reach] is so much better.., it just speeds it up completely. It’s really really good, so quick.”

“Mentally I couldn't cope, I wasn’t in a good place. The help from PA Housing and this portal has been a godsend because I wouldn't have found any of this support.”

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“It's a brilliant tool! It brings up support specific to your needs. Platforms like Lightning Reach restore belief and trust that there are people out there that genuinely want to help you.”

“The portal is amazing, there is so much information. Without the portal, I would have never had help like this. There was so much support on there no one had told me about, which is fantastic.”

“Lightning Reach was much smoother (than other applications) all things considered. It’s helped relieve stress in a tight financial situation."

“Within 2-3 days I was all done and dusted and got my payment. It was a miracle! I thought it would take a couple of months."

"I found it was really straightforward to fill out the form. My situation was difficult and this made it easy."